The overall cost of imports for all countries declined by an average -5.5% since 2018 when international purchases of bananas were valued at $16.2 billion.
Year over year, spending on imported bananas dropped by -8.3% compared to $16.7 billion during 2021.
By value, the largest 5 international buyers of imported bananas including plantains are the United States of America, mainland China, Germany, Japan and Russia. Collectively, that group of 5 major importers bought 43.6% of the world’s bananas imported in 2022.
From a continental perspective, European nations spent the most on imported bananas during 2022 with purchases valued at $7.8 billion or 50.9% of the global total. In second place were importers in Asia at 22.3% ahead of North American buyers at 22% (in United States of America and Canada only).
Smaller percentages of globally imported bananas arrived in Latin America (2.9%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (1.4%) then Oceania (0.5%) mostly New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for fresh or dried bananas and plantains is 0803.
Bananas Imports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2022.
- United States: US$2.9 billion (18.8% of total imported bananas)
- China: $1.2 billion (7.6%)
- Germany: $965.2 million (6.3%)
- Japan: $897.7 million (5.8%)
- Russia: $781.4 million (5.1%)
- Netherlands: $725.7 million (4.7%)
- France: $724.5 million (4.7%)
- Belgium: $654.5 million (4.3%)
- United Kingdom: $649.1 million (4.2%)
- Italy: $544.8 million (3.5%)
- Canada: $489.9 million (3.2%)
- Poland: $345.8 million (2.3%)
- Spain: $296.5 million (1.9%)
- South Korea: $283.9 million (1.8%)
- Argentina: $215 million (1.4%)
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased 75.8% of all bananas imported in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for bananas from 2021 to 2022 were: mainland China (up 11.8%), Canada (up 6.8%), Spain (up 6.7%) and the United States of America (up 3.2%).
Major buyer countries that posted declines in their imported bananas purchases were led by: Belgium (down -36.6% from 2021), Russia (down -27.6%), Argentina (down -20.5%) and the Netherlands (down -14.1%).
Bananas Imports into the United States
Below are the top suppliers from which America imported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2021 to 2022.
- Guatemala: US$1.2 billion (up 5.9% from 2021)
- Ecuador: $423 million (down -7%)
- Costa Rica: $411.9 million (down -8.1%)
- Honduras: $278.1 million (up 78.3%)
- Mexico: $254.1 million (up 3.1%)
- Colombia: $248.5 million (down -0.6%)
- Peru: $34.5 million (down -32.5%)
- Panama: $21.6 million (down -52.6%)
- Nicaragua: $5.9 million (down -32%)
- Dominican Republic: $4.2 million (up 28.9%)
- Philippines: $3.6 million (up 28.5%)
- Thailand: $3.6 million (up 24%)
- mainland China: $3.1 million (up 62.8%)
- India: $1.2 million (up 155%)
- Malaysia: $945,000 (up 327.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.91% of bananas imported by buyers in the United States of America in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of bananas to buyers in the United States from 2021 to 2022 were: Malaysia (up 327.6%), India (up 155%), Honduras (up 78.3%) and mainland China (up 62.8%).
Major suppliers that experienced declines in the value of their bananas supplied to American importers included: Panama (down -52.6% from 2021), Peru (down -32.5%), Nicaragua (down -32%) and Costa Rica (down -8.1%).
Overall, the value of United States’s imported bananas rose by an average 3.2% from all supplying countries since 2021 when bananas purchased cost $2.8 billion.
Bananas Imports into China
Below are the top suppliers from which mainland China imported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country 2021 to 2022.
- Philippines: US$476.4 million (down -2.7% from 2021)
- Vietnam: $255 million (up 59.1%)
- Cambodia: $237.8 million (up 16.9%)
- Ecuador: $145.4 million (up 6.2%)
- Laos: $35.4 million (down -9.6%)
- Thailand: $7 million (down -23%)
- Indonesia: $2.2 million (up 1121.4%)
- Myanmar: $2 million (up 81.7%)
- Costa Rica: $941,000 (up 470.3%)
- Mexico: $629,000 (up 5141.7%)
- Colombia: $28,000 (down -62.2%)
By value, the listed countries shipped 100% of bananas imported by buyers in mainland China in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of bananas to China from 2021 to 2022 were: Mexico (up 5,142%), Indonesia (up 1,121%), Costa Rica (up 470.3%) and Myanmar (up 81.7%).
Major suppliers that experienced declines in the value of their bananas supplied to Chinese buyers reside in Colombia (down -62.2% from 2021), Thailand (down -23%), Laos (down -9.6%) and the Philippines (down -2.7%).
Overall, the value of China’s imported bananas rose by an average 11.8% from all supplying countries since 2021 when bananas purchased cost $1.04 billion.
Bananas Imports into Germany
Below are the top suppliers from which Germany imported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country 2021 to 2022.
- Costa Rica: US$260.7 million (down -14.9% from 2021)
- Ecuador: $226.4 million (down -25.1%)
- Colombia: $216.8 million (down -12.6%)
- Dominican Republic: $107.1 million (down -1.7%)
- Guatemala: $33.7 million (up 15.9%)
- Panama: $27.9 million (up 12.7%)
- Cameroon: $22.5 million (up 107.9%)
- Peru: $20.9 million (down -29.4%)
- Nicaragua: $14.5 million (down -52.3%)
- Ivory Coast: $8.1 million (up 527.2%)
- Spain: $6.1 million (up 59.6%)
- Italy: $5.8 million (up 269.1%)
- Australia: $4.9 million (up 124.1%)
- Brazil: $2.7 million (up 238.8%)
- France: $1.5 million (up 30.5%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.5% of bananas imported by buyers in Germany in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of bananas to Germany from 2021 to 2022 were: Ivory Coast (up 527.2%), Italy (up 269.1%), Brazil (up 238.8%) and Australia (up 124.1%).
Major suppliers that experienced declines in the value of their bananas supplied to German importers included: Nicaragua (down -52.3% from 2021), Peru (down -29.4%), Ecuador (down -25.1%) and Costa Rica (down -14.9%).
Overall, the value of Germany’s imported bananas fell by an average -13% from all supplying countries since 2021 when bananas purchased cost $1.1 billion.
Bananas Imports into Japan
Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Japan imported the highest dollar value worth of bananas during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country 2021 to 2022.
- Colombia: US$301.1 million (down -6.7% from 2021)
- Ecuador: $172.4 million (down -10%)
- Cameroon: $147.1 million (down -4.6%)
- Costa Rica: $108.6 million (down -29.7%)
- Netherlands: $77 million (up 10.4%)
- Ivory Coast: $61.2 million (down -29.4%)
- Germany: $40.1 million (up 43.9%)
- Peru: $32.5 million (down -16.6%)
- Dominican Republic: $32.5 million (down -38.7%)
- Ghana: $27 million (down -11.7%)
- Spain: $10.6 million (up 124.7%)
- France: $6.4 million (up 64.3%)
- Nicaragua: $5.6 million (up 305.7%)
- Guatemala: $4 million (down -40.9%)
- Sweden: $1.8 million (up 124.9%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9% of bananas imported by buyers in Japan in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of bananas to Japan from 2021 to 2022 were: Laos (up 402.7%), mainland China (up 300%), Sri Lanka (up 153.3%) and Indonesia (up 24.4%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their bananas supplied to Japanese importers included: Colombia (down -98.1% from 2021), Australia (down -62.3%), Guatemala (down -55.3%) and Costa Rica (down -38.3%).
Overall, the value of Japan’s imported bananas shrank by an average -8.6% from all supplying countries since 2021 when bananas purchased cost $981.9 million.
Searchable List of Bananas Importing Countries in 2022
Shown below are 100 key countries that accounted for 99.9% of the value for globally imported bananas in 2022.
| Rank | Importer | Imported Bananas | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $2,892,436,000 | +3.2% |
| 2. | China | $1,162,720,000 | +11.8% |
| 3. | Germany | $965,180,000 | -13% |
| 4. | Japan | $897,730,000 | -8.6% |
| 5. | Russia | $781,427,000 | -27.6% |
| 6. | Netherlands | $725,719,000 | -14.1% |
| 7. | France | $724,478,000 | +1.5% |
| 8. | Belgium | $654,548,000 | -36.6% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $649,123,000 | -7% |
| 10. | Italy | $544,837,000 | +1.9% |
| 11. | Canada | $489,877,000 | +6.8% |
| 12. | Poland | $345,793,000 | +2.9% |
| 13. | Spain | $296,503,000 | +6.7% |
| 14. | South Korea | $283,876,000 | -2.2% |
| 15. | Argentina | $214,981,000 | -20.5% |
| 16. | Romania | $191,858,000 | +5.3% |
| 17. | Saudi Arabia | $185,902,000 | +2.2% |
| 18. | Sweden | $160,644,000 | +6.4% |
| 19. | Portugal | $159,079,000 | +3.6% |
| 20. | Ukraine | $155,468,000 | -23.3% |
| 21. | Greece | $149,005,000 | +2.1% |
| 22. | Czech Republic | $141,823,000 | +4% |
| 23. | Austria | $140,748,000 | +7.8% |
| 24. | Chile | $123,209,000 | +9.5% |
| 25. | Iraq | $122,537,000 | +27.8% |
| 26. | United Arab Emirates | $116,861,000 | -13.3% |
| 27. | Switzerland | $109,406,000 | -3% |
| 28. | Slovenia | $84,451,000 | +23.1% |
| 29. | Denmark | $81,068,000 | -1.3% |
| 30. | Hungary | $78,485,000 | +21% |
| 31. | Slovakia | $76,638,000 | -4.5% |
| 32. | Croatia | $76,455,000 | +28.8% |
| 33. | New Zealand | $71,056,000 | +1.3% |
| 34. | Finland | $70,959,000 | -18.3% |
| 35. | Norway | $69,095,000 | +12.6% |
| 36. | Serbia | $64,035,000 | -6.8% |
| 37. | Uzbekistan | $63,434,000 | +95.4% |
| 38. | Iran | $62,002,000 | -84.6% |
| 39. | Ireland | $60,586,000 | -4.5% |
| 40. | Kazakhstan | $58,671,000 | +9.9% |
| 41. | South Africa | $54,136,000 | +5.1% |
| 42. | Algeria | $52,279,000 | -46.1% |
| 43. | Bulgaria | $51,964,000 | -1.2% |
| 44. | Hong Kong | $50,374,000 | -0.2% |
| 45. | Qatar | $41,811,000 | +9.2% |
| 46. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $38,413,000 | +7.5% |
| 47. | Türkiye | $38,026,000 | -71.9% |
| 48. | Latvia | $37,599,000 | +6.5% |
| 49. | Libya | $37,530,000 | +30.7% |
| 50. | Azerbaijan | $37,280,000 | +0.2% |
| 51. | Lithuania | $35,548,000 | -2.6% |
| 52. | Uruguay | $32,638,000 | +30.2% |
| 53. | Singapore | $30,450,000 | -0.7% |
| 54. | Georgia | $27,083,000 | +48.5% |
| 55. | Kuwait | $25,048,000 | -46.5% |
| 56. | Tajikistan | $22,623,000 | +53.4% |
| 57. | Oman | $21,851,000 | +6.5% |
| 58. | Bahrain | $20,668,000 | +20.8% |
| 59. | Armenia | $20,273,000 | +32.6% |
| 60. | Afghanistan | $20,070,000 | +13.5% |
| 61. | Jordan | $19,953,000 | -8.7% |
| 62. | Kyrgyzstan | $18,783,000 | +12.4% |
| 63. | North Macedonia | $17,988,000 | -4.9% |
| 64. | Estonia | $17,648,000 | +3.5% |
| 65. | Honduras | $17,647,000 | +12.6% |
| 66. | Moldova | $17,550,000 | -3.1% |
| 67. | El Salvador | $16,240,000 | -50.9% |
| 68. | Tunisia | $15,812,000 | -66.6% |
| 69. | Syria | $15,790,000 | -53.2% |
| 70. | Malaysia | $14,167,000 | +16.8% |
| 71. | Senegal | $14,088,000 | -20.3% |
| 72. | Brunei Darussalam | $9,562,000 | +19.1% |
| 73. | Montenegro | $9,528,000 | +36.6% |
| 74. | Luxembourg | $9,361,000 | -5.3% |
| 75. | Morocco | $8,899,000 | -37% |
| 76. | Botswana | $8,598,000 | -5.5% |
| 77. | Malta | $8,515,000 | +16.5% |
| 78. | Nepal | $8,001,000 | -56.4% |
| 79. | Cyprus | $7,900,000 | +13.9% |
| 80. | Trinidad/Tobago | $7,410,000 | +3.5% |
| 81. | Iceland | $7,162,000 | +15.1% |
| 82. | Mali | $6,277,000 | -19.9% |
| 83. | Bahamas | $6,129,000 | -20.3% |
| 84. | Mongolia | $5,638,000 | +52.9% |
| 85. | Thailand | $5,270,000 | -30.9% |
| 86. | Macao | $4,035,000 | +7.1% |
| 87. | Costa Rica | $4,000,000 | +100.6% |
| 88. | Namibia | $3,932,000 | -10.4% |
| 89. | Aruba | $3,490,000 | +10.5% |
| 90. | Colombia | $3,400,000 | +165.8% |
| 91. | Lebanon | $3,378,000 | +168.9% |
| 92. | Egypt | $3,215,000 | -53.6% |
| 93. | Curaçao | $3,166,000 | -31.6% |
| 94. | Somalia | $2,838,000 | -23.6% |
| 95. | Guatemala | $2,300,000 | +46.5% |
| 96. | Cayman Islands | $2,142,000 | -0.2% |
| 97. | Turks/Caicos Islands | $2,127,000 | +69.3% |
| 98. | Maldives | $2,108,000 | +17.4% |
| 99. | Barbados | $1,919,000 | +2.2% |
| 100. | Mauritania | $1,587,000 | +22% |
The fastest growing importers of bananas including plantains are Lebanon (up 168.9% from 2021), Colombia (up 165.8%), Costa Rica (up 100.6%) and Uzbekistan (up 95.4%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry in the right-most column means that no 2021 data is available.
See also Bananas Exports by Country, Top US Trading Partners, Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Russia’s Top Trading Partners and Belgium’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on August 8, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 8, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 8, 2023
