Overall, the value of vodka exports declined by an average -0.7% for all exporting countries since 2015 when vodka shipments were valued at $2.19 billion. Year over year, the value of exported vodka fell by -4.9% from 2018 to 2019.
From a continental perspective, suppliers in European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of vodka exports during 2019 with shipments valued at $1.9 billion or 88.7% of the global total. A distant second, North American exporters furnished 4.9% while 3.3% of worldwide vodka shipments originated from Asia. Smaller percentages came from Oceania (1.8%) specifically Australia and New Zealand, Africa (0.9%) then Latin America (0.5%) excluding Mexico.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for vodka is 220860.
Top Vodka Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of vodka during 2019.
- Sweden: US$449.1 million (20.6% of total vodka exports)
- France: $404.3 million (18.6%)
- Russia: $161.5 million (7.4%)
- Poland: $150.6 million (6.9%)
- Netherlands: $147 million (6.7%)
- United States: $93 million (4.3%)
- Italy: $92.9 million (4.3%)
- Latvia: $92.2 million (4.2%)
- Germany: $78.1 million (3.6%)
- Finland: $74.4 million (3.4%)
- United Kingdom: $74.3 million (3.4%)
- Australia: $37.7 million (1.7%)
- Singapore: $34.8 million (1.6%)
- Belarus: $34.8 million (1.6%)
- Ukraine: $33.7 million (1.5%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 89.9% of global vodka exported in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing vodka exporters since 2015 were: Australia (up 341.4%), Italy (up 142.6%), Russia (up 39%) and Netherlands (up 31.9%).
Five countries posted declines in their exported vodka sales: United Kingdom (down -56%), Germany (down -26.4%), Ukraine (down -17.1%), France (down -8.7%) and Sweden (down -8.4%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for vodka 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 vodka and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Sweden: US$438.7 million (net export surplus down -8% since 2015)
- France: $275.9 million (down -15.9%)
- Russia: $103 million (up 42.7%)
- Poland: $99.2 million (down -11.6%)
- Netherlands: $78.6 million (up 22.7%)
- Finland: $70.9 million (up 14.1%)
- Latvia: $33.4 million (down -15.9%)
- Belarus: $31.7 million (up 38.1%)
- Italy: $25.3 million (up 593%)
- Ukraine: $13.4 million (down -50.3%)
- South Africa: $8.5 million (up 354.8%)
- Singapore: $4.3 million (down -36.1%)
- Moldova: $3.9 million (down -38.1%)
- Zambia: $3.5 million (up 107.8%)
- Belgium: $2.2 million (reversing a -$23.4 million deficit)
Sweden earned the highest surplus in the international trade of vodka. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Sweden’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for vodka 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 vodka purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$1.4 billion (net export deficit down -9.1% since 2015)
- Canada: -$105.2 million (up 14.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$72.4 million (up 509.4%)
- Israel: -$51.5 million (up 13.3%)
- Germany: -$44.8 million (up 598.4%)
- Kazakhstan: -$39 million (up 97.6%)
- Spain: -$33.1 million (down -21.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$29.8 million (up 313.2%)
- Greece: -$24 million (up 16.4%)
- Australia: -$19.5 million (down -40.4%)
- Armenia: -$19.5 million (up 27.6%)
- Ireland: -$18 million (up 27.2%)
- China: -$16.5 million (up 32.8%)
- Panama: -$16 million (up 234.1%)
- Switzerland: -$15.8 million (up 8.3%)
The United States of America racked up the highest deficit in the international trade of vodka. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for vodka-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful worldwide demand.
Brands
Top Vodka Brands
Below are global vodka-processing brands that represent established entities exported and imported in the international vodka trade. Their home country associated with each brand is shown within parenthesis.
- Absolut (Sweden)
- Absolwent (Poland)
- Artic (Italy)
- Firefly (United States)
- Grey Goose (France)
- Kauffman (Russia)
- Ketel One (Netherlands)
- Khortytsia (Ukraine)
- KORS (Finland)
- Latvijas Balzams (Latvia)
- Magic Spirits (Germany)
- Minsk Kristall (Belarus)
- Smirnoff (United Kingdom)
- Stumbras (Lithuania)
Founded in Russia, Smirnoff is now a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo.
Searchable List of Vodka Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2018 data is unavailable.
| Rank | Exporter | Vodka Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sweden | $449,108,000 | -6.3% |
| 2. | France | $404,256,000 | -1.3% |
| 3. | Russia | $161,469,000 | +7.7% |
| 4. | Poland | $150,556,000 | -5.7% |
| 5. | Netherlands | $146,964,000 | +15.8% |
| 6. | United States | $93,000,000 | -16.4% |
| 7. | Italy | $92,880,000 | +9.9% |
| 8. | Latvia | $92,174,000 | -5.1% |
| 9. | Germany | $78,102,000 | -13.1% |
| 10. | Finland | $74,410,000 | -4.9% |
| 11. | United Kingdom | $74,289,000 | -23.5% |
| 12. | Australia | $37,713,000 | +72% |
| 13. | Singapore | $34,840,000 | -7.4% |
| 14. | Belarus | $34,822,000 | -34.2% |
| 15. | Ukraine | $33,702,000 | -40.3% |
| 16. | Belgium | $27,304,000 | +2.3% |
| 17. | Spain | $21,958,000 | +23.6% |
| 18. | Lithuania | $18,491,000 | +5% |
| 19. | South Africa | $14,819,000 | -33.8% |
| 20. | Austria | $14,581,000 | -0.7% |
| 21. | Canada | $12,229,000 | +19.2% |
| 22. | Japan | $10,269,000 | +416.3% |
| 23. | Estonia | $9,281,000 | -13.5% |
| 24. | Moldova | $6,427,000 | -11.4% |
| 25. | Czech Republic | $6,071,000 | -2.4% |
| 26. | Slovakia | $5,893,000 | +10.7% |
| 27. | Thailand | $5,715,000 | +51% |
| 28. | Bulgaria | $4,955,000 | +20.3% |
| 29. | Zambia | $3,798,000 | +7% |
| 30. | Georgia | $3,727,000 | +2,092% |
| 31. | Cyprus | $3,431,000 | -25.1% |
| 32. | South Korea | $3,268,000 | -2.1% |
| 33. | China | $3,207,000 | -5% |
| 34. | Luxembourg | $2,926,000 | +19.2% |
| 35. | Denmark | $2,917,000 | -63.8% |
| 36. | Norway | $2,747,000 | +0.8% |
| 37. | Malaysia | $2,530,000 | +39.3% |
| 38. | Panama | $2,436,000 | -35.7% |
| 39. | Hong Kong | $2,120,000 | -13.6% |
| 40. | Portugal | $2,110,000 | +1.8% |
| 41. | Chile | $2,005,000 | -7% |
| 42. | Armenia | $1,691,000 | +13.9% |
| 43. | Brazil | $1,491,000 | -14.5% |
| 44. | India | $1,358,000 | +79.2% |
| 45. | New Zealand | $1,354,000 | -16.4% |
| 46. | Hungary | $1,339,000 | -15.6% |
| 47. | Turks/Caicos Is | $1,309,000 | +64.2% |
| 48. | Slovenia | $1,307,000 | +6.8% |
| 49. | Croatia | $1,203,000 | -11.2% |
| 50. | Ireland | $1,168,000 | -29.6% |
| 51. | United Arab Emirates | $1,131,000 | -92.1% |
| 52. | Iceland | $1,099,000 | -25.4% |
| 53. | Greece | $1,097,000 | +9.4% |
| 54. | Vietnam | $1,011,000 | +24.7% |
| 55. | Romania | $941,000 | -0.4% |
| 56. | Serbia | $898,000 | -9.5% |
| 57. | Guatemala | $857,000 | +2.3% |
| 58. | Turkey | $654,000 | +54.2% |
| 59. | Malta | $611,000 | +31.4% |
| 60. | Barbados | $574,000 | -46.1% |
| 61. | Mexico | $496,000 | -66.3% |
| 62. | El Salvador | $350,000 | -23.6% |
| 63. | Namibia | $271,000 | -60.2% |
| 64. | Dominican Republic | $223,000 | +36.8% |
| 65. | Mongolia | $218,000 | +60.3% |
| 66. | Azerbaijan | $210,000 | +37.3% |
| 67. | Taiwan | $207,000 | +331.3% |
| 68. | Kyrgyzstan | $204,000 | +16.6% |
| 69. | Argentina | $182,000 | 0% |
| 70. | Switzerland | $180,000 | -14.7% |
| 71. | Kazakhstan | $121,000 | +47.6% |
| 72. | Aruba | $105,000 | +556.3% |
| 73. | Jamaica | $96,000 | -95.1% |
| 74. | Peru | $91,000 | +23% |
| 75. | Uzbekistan | $86,000 | -24.6% |
| 76. | Philippines | $78,000 | +310.5% |
| 77. | Belize | $70,000 | +84.2% |
| 78. | Togo | $67,000 | +219% |
| 79. | North Macedonia | $58,000 | -83.8% |
| 80. | Israel | $50,000 | -64.8% |
| 81. | Costa Rica | $48,000 | 0% |
| 82. | Montenegro | $37,000 | +184.6% |
| 83. | Antigua/Barbuda | $35,000 | -69% |
| 84. | Ghana | $34,000 | -98% |
| 85. | Guyana | $31,000 | -90.9% |
| 86. | Mauritius | $29,000 | -3.3% |
| 87. | Senegal | $17,000 | +466.7% |
| 88. | Indonesia | $17,000 | -98.8% |
| 89. | Bermuda | $17,000 | -56.4% |
| 90. | Jordan | $13,000 | -93.3% |
| 91. | Cuba | $12,000 | -50% |
| 92. | Eswatini | $11,000 | +57.1% |
| 93. | Burkina Faso | $10,000 | +150% |
| 94. | Lebanon | $9,000 | -98.9% |
| 95. | Morocco | $9,000 | -25% |
| 96. | Curaçao | $9,000 | -70% |
| 97. | Laos | $8,000 | 0% |
| 98. | Tajikistan | $8,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Madagascar | $7,000 | -22.2% |
| 100. | Nepal | $6,000 | -14.3% |
| 101. | Sudan | $6,000 | -85.7% |
| 102. | Cayman Islands | $5,000 | 0% |
| 103. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $4,000 | -42.9% |
| 104. | Zimbabwe | $4,000 | -66.7% |
| 105. | Bahamas | $3,000 | -76.9% |
| 106. | Ecuador | $3,000 | 0% |
| 107. | Faroe Islands | $2,000 | -33.3% |
| 108. | Afghanistan | $2,000 | 0% |
| 109. | Suriname | $2,000 | -99.7% |
| 110. | Mozambique | $2,000 | -85.7% |
| 111. | Maldives | $1,000 | 0% |
| 112. | Djibouti | $1,000 | 0% |
See also Wine Exports by Country, Top Wine Importing Countries and Major Export Companies: Alcoholic Beverages
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 16, 2020
Forbes, Net Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 16, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 16, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 16, 2020
Wikipedia, List of vodkas. Accessed on May 16, 2020