Among continents, suppliers in Europe generated the greatest revenue stream from exported soap during 2019 with shipments valued at $4.9 billion or 44.9% of the global total. In second place were Asian exporters at 34.7% while 13.4% of international soap shipments originated from North America. Smaller percentages came from soap suppliers in Latin America (3.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (2.3%), and Oceania (1.2%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 3401 for soap. That code prefix includes bar and liquid soaps, as well as organic surface-active products and preparations.
Soap Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of soap during 2019.
- Germany: US$1.2 billion (11.1% of total soap exports)
- United States: $939.5 million (8.5%)
- China: $657.8 million (6%)
- Japan: $585.6 million (5.3%)
- Malaysia: $564.2 million (5.1%)
- Poland: $554.6 million (5%)
- France: $492.7 million (4.5%)
- Italy: $480.4 million (4.4%)
- United Kingdom: $475.8 million (4.3%)
- Netherlands: $450.7 million (4.1%)
- Turkey: $347.3 million (3.2%)
- Indonesia: $343.4 million (3.1%)
- Canada: $336.9 million (3.1%)
- Thailand: $277.8 million (2.5%)
- Spain: $205.2 million (1.9%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 72.2% of globally exported soap in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of soap since 2015 were: Japan (up 245.4%), Poland (up 76.1%), Netherlands (up 63.5%) and Spain (up 58.5%).
Four countries posted declines in their international sales of soap: Indonesia (down -35.4%), Turkey (down -10.8%), Canada (down -10.2%) and the United Kingdom (down -7%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for soap 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 soap and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Germany: US$640.8 million (net export surplus up 13.3% since 2015)
- Malaysia: $431.6 million (up 7.1%)
- Poland: $321.2 million (up 153.4%)
- Indonesia: $279.2 million (down -42.8%)
- Japan: $278.5 million (down -410.9%)
- Turkey: $253.7 million (down -14.2%)
- Italy: $246 million (down -2%)
- China: $214 million (down -31.1%)
- Thailand: $196.1 million (up 18.7%)
- South Korea: $75.4 million (down -743.8%)
- South Africa: $75 million (down -26.4%)
- Brazil: $74.1 million (up 17.6%)
- Israel: $73.3 million (down -38.9%)
- Honduras: $69.1 million (down -9.5%)
- Mexico: $57.8 million (up 63.5%)
Germany generated the highest surplus in the international trade of soap. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Germany’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for soap 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 soap purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Saudi Arabia: -US$207.8 million (net export deficit up 230.4% since 2015)
- Canada: -$194.6 million (up 105.5%)
- Russia: -$137.9 million (up 35.2%)
- Australia: -$135.7 million (down -24.3%)
- Taiwan: -$127.8 million (up 22.5%)
- Philippines: -$118.8 million (up 101.8%)
- Austria: -$92.6 million (up 14%)
- Romania: -$83.9 million (up 77.8%)
- United States: -$82.8 million (reversing an $82 million surplus)
- Ireland: -$78 million (down -10.5%)
- Peru: -$71 million (up 27.4%)
- Iraq: -$70.5 million (down -36.5%)
- Norway: -$70.2 million (up 9.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$65 million (down -20.9%)
- El Salvador: -$63.8 million (up 14.6%)
Overtaking Canada in 2019, Saudi Arabia incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of soap. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Saudi Arabia’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for soap-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful worldwide demand.
Companies
Soap Exporting Companies
Below are global soap manufacturers that represent established players engaged in the international soap trade. The home country for each is shown within parenthesis.
- Ach Brito & Ca. (Portugal)
- Caswell-Massey (United States)
- Colgate-Palmolive (United States)
- Deb Limited (United Kingdom)
- Defense Soap (United States)
- Doetsch Grether AG (Switzerland)
- Further Products (United States)
- Henkel (Germany)
- L’Amande (Italy)
- Nivea (Germany)
- Orkla Group (Norway)
- Proraso (Italy)
- PZ Cussons (United Kingdom)
- Sebapharma GmbH & Co (Germany)
- Unilever (Netherlands & United Kingdom)
Searchable List of Soap Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means 2019 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Exporter | Soap Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $1,219,930,000 | -6.4% |
| 2. | United States | $939,464,000 | +3.1% |
| 3. | China | $657,782,000 | +9.5% |
| 4. | Japan | $585,571,000 | +20.3% |
| 5. | Malaysia | $564,229,000 | -5.9% |
| 6. | Poland | $554,610,000 | +8.3% |
| 7. | France | $492,659,000 | +16.7% |
| 8. | Italy | $480,449,000 | +1.2% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $475,840,000 | -7.7% |
| 10. | Netherlands | $450,748,000 | +4.9% |
| 11. | Turkey | $347,347,000 | -0.8% |
| 12. | Indonesia | $343,351,000 | -47.2% |
| 13. | Canada | $336,890,000 | +0.2% |
| 14. | Thailand | $277,774,000 | +3% |
| 15. | Spain | $205,215,000 | +13.5% |
| 16. | Belgium | $196,323,000 | +5.3% |
| 17. | South Korea | $193,628,000 | +18.1% |
| 18. | Mexico | $190,981,000 | +15.3% |
| 19. | Singapore | $180,824,000 | +22.4% |
| 20. | South Africa | $151,945,000 | -8.5% |
| 21. | United Arab Emirates | $143,544,000 | -58% |
| 22. | Czech Republic | $135,320,000 | +16.1% |
| 23. | Australia | $116,562,000 | +10.6% |
| 24. | Russia | $112,660,000 | +5% |
| 25. | India | $111,838,000 | -1.2% |
| 26. | Israel | $101,366,000 | -19.4% |
| 27. | Brazil | $95,009,000 | -6.6% |
| 28. | Colombia | $92,137,000 | +60.4% |
| 29. | Honduras | $88,208,000 | -5.7% |
| 30. | Sweden | $86,062,000 | -8.9% |
| 31. | Saudi Arabia | $82,450,000 | -13.3% |
| 32. | Switzerland | $72,454,000 | -6.9% |
| 33. | Vietnam | $67,789,000 | -2.6% |
| 34. | Guatemala | $64,196,000 | +3.9% |
| 35. | Denmark | $59,298,000 | -11.5% |
| 36. | Hungary | $45,760,000 | -8.9% |
| 37. | Portugal | $44,037,000 | -3.5% |
| 38. | Austria | $42,526,000 | +46.4% |
| 39. | Greece | $41,399,000 | +20.5% |
| 40. | Slovakia | $36,670,000 | +10% |
| 41. | Slovenia | $32,699,000 | -21.6% |
| 42. | Bahrain | $26,832,000 | -56% |
| 43. | Romania | $25,495,000 | +6.7% |
| 44. | Bulgaria | $20,676,000 | -1.5% |
| 45. | Philippines | $20,460,000 | +53.4% |
| 46. | Pakistan | $20,241,000 | +71.9% |
| 47. | Hong Kong | $19,680,000 | -15.9% |
| 48. | Egypt | $19,445,000 | -47.3% |
| 49. | Argentina | $17,667,000 | -4.6% |
| 50. | Morocco | $16,735,000 | -4.4% |
| 51. | Ivory Coast | $16,537,000 | -84% |
| 52. | Taiwan | $15,926,000 | -11.3% |
| 53. | Jordan | $15,119,000 | +47.2% |
| 54. | New Zealand | $14,407,000 | +6.9% |
| 55. | Croatia | $14,206,000 | +1% |
| 56. | Serbia | $14,026,000 | +40.8% |
| 57. | Lithuania | $12,919,000 | -10% |
| 58. | Zambia | $11,628,000 | +25.5% |
| 59. | Latvia | $11,220,000 | -15.6% |
| 60. | Ukraine | $9,967,000 | -60.8% |
| 61. | Ireland | $9,644,000 | -16.1% |
| 62. | Belarus | $9,275,000 | -0.1% |
| 63. | Nigeria | $8,175,000 | +31.5% |
| 64. | Norway | $8,097,000 | -11.1% |
| 65. | Kazakhstan | $7,513,000 | +10.4% |
| 66. | Peru | $7,247,000 | -1.4% |
| 67. | Lebanon | $6,685,000 | -47.8% |
| 68. | Paraguay | $6,430,000 | +22.1% |
| 69. | Ecuador | $5,782,000 | -20% |
| 70. | Estonia | $5,749,000 | +3.3% |
| 71. | Costa Rica | $5,640,000 | +50.3% |
| 72. | Senegal | $4,965,000 | +62.7% |
| 73. | Ghana | $4,651,000 | +16% |
| 74. | Chile | $4,040,000 | -11.8% |
| 75. | Mauritius | $4,008,000 | -9.8% |
| 76. | Syria | $3,920,000 | +0.6% |
| 77. | Luxembourg | $3,885,000 | -35.5% |
| 78. | Iran | $3,860,000 | -82.8% |
| 79. | Dominican Republic | $3,364,000 | -55.7% |
| 80. | El Salvador | $3,255,000 | -1.5% |
| 81. | Finland | $3,020,000 | -11.1% |
| 82. | Oman | $2,533,000 | -82.5% |
| 83. | Uzbekistan | $2,290,000 | 0% |
| 84. | Macao | $2,272,000 | 0% |
| 85. | Tunisia | $2,183,000 | +15.5% |
| 86. | Panama | $1,522,000 | -21.7% |
| 87. | Malawi | $1,468,000 | -24.1% |
| 88. | Georgia | $1,442,000 | +768.7% |
| 89. | Togo | $1,413,000 | -62% |
| 90. | North Macedonia | $1,366,000 | +4.8% |
| 91. | Eswatini | $1,361,000 | -63% |
| 92. | Cyprus | $1,302,000 | +19% |
| 93. | Bangladesh | $1,156,000 | +2.8% |
| 94. | Botswana | $955,000 | -44.4% |
| 95. | Aruba | $726,000 | -5.5% |
| 96. | Albania | $703,000 | +23,333% |
| 97. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $697,000 | -3.9% |
| 98. | Kenya | $638,000 | -98.8% |
| 99. | Benin | $572,000 | -25.5% |
| 100. | Namibia | $518,000 | -25.5% |
| 101. | Nicaragua | $421,000 | -54.4% |
| 102. | Tanzania | $418,000 | -98.4% |
| 103. | Kuwait | $364,000 | -93.6% |
| 104. | Sri Lanka | $335,000 | -33.5% |
| 105. | Fiji | $327,000 | -85.7% |
| 106. | Trinidad/Tobago | $305,000 | -51.2% |
| 107. | Jamaica | $302,000 | -82.2% |
| 108. | Iceland | $280,000 | +59.1% |
| 109. | Palestine | $250,000 | -94.1% |
| 110. | Iraq | $246,000 | +1,657% |
| 111. | Zimbabwe | $195,000 | -8.9% |
| 112. | Kyrgyzstan | $183,000 | +123.2% |
| 113. | Turkmenistan | $171,000 | +235.3% |
| 114. | Malta | $161,000 | +347.2% |
| 115. | Faroe Islands | $161,000 | +192.7% |
| 116. | US Minor Outlying Is | $115,000 | -70.4% |
| 117. | Dominica | $97,000 | -91.3% |
| 118. | Azerbaijan | $80,000 | +66.7% |
| 119. | Barbados | $65,000 | -79.1% |
| 120. | Nepal | $63,000 | -35.1% |
| 121. | Armenia | $62,000 | -29.5% |
| 122. | Burkina Faso | $61,000 | -42.5% |
| 123. | Papua New Guinea | $57,000 | -66.7% |
| 124. | Solomon Islands | $56,000 | +300% |
| 125. | Cameroon | $56,000 | -67.1% |
| 126. | Moldova | $54,000 | -98.9% |
| 127. | Mali | $54,000 | -11.5% |
| 128. | Greenland | $54,000 | 0% |
| 129. | Venezuela | $51,000 | +59.4% |
| 130. | Algeria | $31,000 | -97.2% |
| 131. | French Polynesia | $30,000 | -23.1% |
| 132. | Laos | $29,000 | -27.5% |
| 133. | Curaçao | $26,000 | -67.9% |
| 134. | Montenegro | $23,000 | +155.6% |
| 135. | Tokelau | $22,000 | +450% |
| 136. | Christmas Island | $21,000 | 0% |
| 137. | Cambodia | $18,000 | 0% |
| 138. | Andorra | $15,000 | +1,400% |
| 139. | Angola | $15,000 | -99.6% |
| 140. | Mozambique | $13,000 | +550% |
| 141. | Bolivia | $12,000 | 0% |
| 142. | Myanmar (Burma) | $12,000 | -96.4% |
| 143. | Uganda | $11,000 | -100% |
| 144. | Northern Mariana Is | $10,000 | 0% |
| 145. | Lesotho | $10,000 | -28.6% |
| 146. | Cuba | $7,000 | 0% |
| 147. | Uruguay | $7,000 | -91.4% |
| 148. | North Korea | $6,000 | -75% |
| 149. | Mongolia | $5,000 | -66.7% |
| 150. | Anguilla | $5,000 | 0% |
| 151. | Cayman Islands | $4,000 | -99.7% |
| 152. | Cabo Verde | $3,000 | 0% |
| 153. | Madagascar | $3,000 | -80% |
| 154. | Suriname | $3,000 | 0% |
| 155. | Rwanda | $2,000 | -100% |
| 156. | Niger | $2,000 | -99.9% |
| 157. | Ethiopia | $2,000 | -60% |
| 158. | Gambia | $1,000 | -94.1% |
| 159. | Brunei Darussalam | $1,000 | -94.1% |
| 160. | New Caledonia | $1,000 | 0% |
| 161. | Saint Kitts/Nevis | $1,000 | 0% |
| 162. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $1,000 | 0% |
| 163. | Timor-Leste | $1,000 | 0% |
| 164. | Samoa | $1,000 | -91.7% |
See also Perfumes Exporters by Country, Beauty Cosmetics and Skincare Exports by Country and Top Human Hair Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 27, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 27, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 27, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 27, 2020
Wikipedia, Category:Soap brands. Accessed on May 27, 2020