Light gray in color, charcoal results from the slow heating of wood or other combustible substances in an oxygen-less environment. This process contrasts with the millions of years involved for coal, a black natural mineral and fossil fuel formed under the earth’s crust under high temperature and intense pressure.
Other differences are that charcoal produces more heat and is a cleaner fuel than coal. In addition to generating energy and producing heat for cooking, black powder from charcoal is used in creating purification filters as well as producing fireworks.
Among continents, suppliers in Asia sold the highest dollar worth of exported charcoal during 2019 with shipments valued at $690.6 million or more than half (53.7%) of the global total. In second place were European exporters at 27.9% while 8.9% of worldwide charcoal shipments originated from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Smaller percentages came from Africa (6.5%), North America (3%) and Oceania (0.02%) mainly Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 4402 for wood charcoal.
Top Charcoal Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of charcoal during 2019.
- Indonesia: US$240.5 million (18.7% of total charcoal exports)
- China: $166.9 million (13%)
- Poland: $83.8 million (6.5%)
- Ukraine: $80 million (6.2%)
- Vietnam: $68.3 million (5.3%)
- Namibia: $45.8 million (3.6%)
- Myanmar (Burma): $44.3 million (3.4%)
- Philippines: $43.9 million (3.4%)
- Cuba: $43.6 million (3.4%)
- Netherlands: $40.1 million (3.1%)
- Laos: $36.8 million (2.9%)
- Paraguay: $35.8 million (2.8%)
- Belgium: $29.7 million (2.3%)
- India: $29.1 million (2.3%)
- Malaysia: $28.8 million (2.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 79% of global charcoal exported in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing charcoal exporters since 2015 were: Myanmar also called Burma (up 6531.3%), Laos (up 831.7%), India (up 213.3%) and Ukraine (up 113.7%).
Three major suppliers posted declines in their exported charcoal sales: Philippines (down -35.3%), Belgium (down -22.8%) and Cuba (down -6.9%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for charcoal during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported charcoal and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: US$297.4 million (net export surplus up 90.1% since 2015)
- Ukraine: $68.8 million (up 83.5%)
- Vietnam: $62 million (up 459.7%)
- Poland: $61.1 million (up 24.1%)
- Philippines: $50.9 million (up 34.3%)
- China: $45.4 million (up 67.3%)
- Cuba: $41.8 million (up 5%)
- Paraguay: $37.7 million (up 9.7%)
- Mexico: $35.6 million (up 25.3%)
- Namibia: $34 million (up 39.4%)
- Laos: $33.4 million (up 586.1%)
- Myanmar (Burma): $32.8 million (reversing a -$304,000 deficit)
- Ghana: $16.9 million (no 2015 data)
- Argentina: $16.2 million (down -30.7%)
- Malaysia: $11 million (down -23.9%)
Indonesia generated the highest surplus in the international trade of charcoal. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Indonesian competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for charcoal during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported charcoal purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$128.7 million (net export deficit down -1.3% since 2015)
- South Korea: -$124.9 million (up 18.7%)
- Germany: -$103.9 million (up 1.1%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$67.2 million (up 134.3%)
- France: -$57.7 million (up 34.7%)
- United Kingdom: -$55.1 million (up 12%)
- United States: -$54.7 million (up 49.2%)
- Lebanon: -$33.6 million (up 102.5%)
- Turkey: -$33.4 million (up 14%)
- Greece: -$30.5 million (up 1.1%)
- Italy: -$26.7 million (down -3.4%)
- Norway: -$24.8 million (down -4.4%)
- Iraq: -$24 million (up 1633.3%)
- Jordan: -$21.7 million (up 371%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$18.7 million (down -29.8%)
Japan incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of charcoal. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Japan’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for charcoal-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Companies
Charcoal Exporting Companies
The following suppliers are examples of charcoal-trading exporters.
- Basques Hardwood Charcoal (Canada)
- Dolimex SRL (Paraguay)
- HBE Trading (Netherlands)
- Jiangshan Luyi Bamboo Charcoal Co (China)
- Kim Ban Marketing (Malaysia)
- Sumber Jaya (Indonesia)
- UA Wood LLC (Ukraine)
- Vietgo Company Limited (Vietnam)
The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
Searchable List of Charcoal Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2018 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Exporter | Charcoal Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Indonesia | $240,525,000 | -19.2% |
| 2. | China | $166,869,000 | +25.3% |
| 3. | Poland | $83,757,000 | -30.4% |
| 4. | Ukraine | $80,005,000 | +13% |
| 5. | Vietnam | $68,338,000 | +3% |
| 6. | Namibia | $45,821,000 | +43.5% |
| 7. | Myanmar (Burma) | $44,297,000 | +7,198% |
| 8. | Philippines | $43,893,000 | -13.9% |
| 9. | Cuba | $43,593,000 | +2.5% |
| 10. | Netherlands | $40,082,000 | +11.9% |
| 11. | Laos | $36,839,000 | +767.8% |
| 12. | Paraguay | $35,752,000 | -7.9% |
| 13. | Belgium | $29,670,000 | -14.7% |
| 14. | India | $29,080,000 | +42.2% |
| 15. | Malaysia | $28,844,000 | +7.7% |
| 16. | Germany | $23,178,000 | -15.6% |
| 17. | South Africa | $21,186,000 | +5.7% |
| 18. | Mexico | $19,829,000 | -46.1% |
| 19. | United States | $17,674,000 | +14.1% |
| 20. | Spain | $17,241,000 | -6.5% |
| 21. | Russia | $16,506,000 | +21.5% |
| 22. | Argentina | $16,488,000 | +0.1% |
| 23. | Portugal | $8,454,000 | +41.4% |
| 24. | France | $8,297,000 | +23.4% |
| 25. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $8,080,000 | -12.2% |
| 26. | Egypt | $7,368,000 | +28.9% |
| 27. | Thailand | $6,975,000 | -36.3% |
| 28. | Latvia | $6,959,000 | -18.7% |
| 29. | Croatia | $6,585,000 | +13.7% |
| 30. | Brazil | $6,320,000 | +206.1% |
| 31. | Venezuela | $5,300,000 | -17.7% |
| 32. | Serbia | $5,214,000 | -5.8% |
| 33. | Turkey | $5,184,000 | +67.4% |
| 34. | Colombia | $5,024,000 | -14.2% |
| 35. | Sri Lanka | $4,182,000 | +30.6% |
| 36. | Cambodia | $3,976,000 | +23,288% |
| 37. | Belarus | $3,943,000 | +76% |
| 38. | Singapore | $3,391,000 | +94.5% |
| 39. | Japan | $3,195,000 | -8.9% |
| 40. | United Kingdom | $2,536,000 | -13.7% |
| 41. | Nigeria | $2,301,000 | -39.9% |
| 42. | Lithuania | $2,129,000 | -15.6% |
| 43. | Bangladesh | $2,068,000 | -57.3% |
| 44. | Hungary | $1,969,000 | +28.4% |
| 45. | Ireland | $1,851,000 | +3,602% |
| 46. | Romania | $1,706,000 | +4.7% |
| 47. | Austria | $1,550,000 | -4.3% |
| 48. | Sudan | $1,465,000 | -34.5% |
| 49. | Denmark | $1,458,000 | -43.9% |
| 50. | Bulgaria | $1,311,000 | +32.4% |
| 51. | Taiwan | $1,253,000 | +57% |
| 52. | Sweden | $1,184,000 | -15.1% |
| 53. | Slovenia | $1,079,000 | +43.3% |
| 54. | El Salvador | $1,073,000 | +4.9% |
| 55. | Estonia | $1,068,000 | +5.8% |
| 56. | Canada | $1,056,000 | -35.1% |
| 57. | Slovakia | $1,006,000 | -61.4% |
| 58. | Ghana | $1,005,000 | -94.1% |
| 59. | Djibouti | $868,000 | -44.8% |
| 60. | Eswatini | $835,000 | -33.3% |
| 61. | Zimbabwe | $789,000 | +1.7% |
| 62. | Tunisia | $568,000 | +31.2% |
| 63. | Greece | $505,000 | -16.7% |
| 64. | South Korea | $479,000 | -7.2% |
| 65. | Italy | $454,000 | -8.3% |
| 66. | Ivory Coast | $427,000 | -28% |
| 67. | Finland | $413,000 | +50.2% |
| 68. | Norway | $393,000 | -30.6% |
| 69. | Panama | $364,000 | -3.7% |
| 70. | Nicaragua | $360,000 | +19.2% |
| 71. | Dominican Republic | $347,000 | +34% |
| 72. | Gambia | $332,000 | 0% |
| 73. | Luxembourg | $317,000 | +85.4% |
| 74. | Lebanon | $291,000 | +129.1% |
| 75. | Hong Kong | $273,000 | +11.9% |
| 76. | Iraq | $249,000 | +388.2% |
| 77. | Czech Republic | $239,000 | -23.9% |
| 78. | Chile | $158,000 | 0% |
| 79. | Niger | $157,000 | 0% |
| 80. | Australia | $150,000 | -9.1% |
| 81. | United Arab Emirates | $122,000 | -99% |
| 82. | Georgia | $75,000 | -31.2% |
| 83. | Bolivia | $70,000 | -54.8% |
| 84. | Iran | $66,000 | -94.7% |
| 85. | Angola | $58,000 | +866.7% |
| 86. | Kenya | $57,000 | +307.1% |
| 87. | US Minor Outlying Is | $56,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Switzerland | $51,000 | -76.7% |
| 89. | New Zealand | $47,000 | +95.8% |
| 90. | Benin | $46,000 | -69.5% |
| 91. | Syria | $43,000 | +152.9% |
| 92. | Jordan | $41,000 | -87.9% |
| 93. | Liberia | $39,000 | 0% |
| 94. | Kyrgyzstan | $33,000 | 0% |
| 95. | Andorra | $31,000 | 0% |
| 96. | Bhutan | $29,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Israel | $25,000 | +525% |
| 98. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $23,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Sierra Leone | $22,000 | +633% |
| 100. | Moldova | $18,000 | +63.6% |
| 101. | Jamaica | $15,000 | 0.0% |
| 102. | Ecuador | $10,000 | +100% |
| 103. | Equatorial Guinea | $10,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Dominica | $9,000 | 0% |
| 105. | Congo | $9,000 | -77% |
| 106. | South Sudan | $7,000 | -86.3% |
| 107. | Pakistan | $5,000 | 0% |
| 108. | Armenia | $5,000 | -86% |
| 109. | Trinidad/Tobago | $4,000 | -90.7% |
| 110. | Botswana | $3,000 | +50.0% |
| 111. | Gabon | $3,000 | -85% |
| 112. | Suriname | $3,000 | 0% |
| 113. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $2,000 | -50% |
| 114. | Malawi | $2,000 | 0% |
| 115. | Solomon Islands | $2,000 | 0% |
| 116. | Tanzania | $2,000 | 0% |
| 117. | Albania | $1,000 | 0% |
| 118. | Mauritius | $1,000 | 0% |
| 119. | Oman | $1,000 | -100% |
See also Coal Exports by Country, Electricity Exports by Country and Crude Oil Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Product showroom for charcoal. Accessed on May 21, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 21, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 21, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 21, 2020
Patel Vidhu, 6 Differences Between Coal and Charcoal. Accessed on August 28, 2019
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on May 21, 2020
Wikipedia, Charcoal. Accessed on May 21, 2020