An ingredient of concrete, cement is a binder substance often used in construction because it sets, hardens, adheres and binds other materials together.
Overall, the value of globally imported cement declined by an average -5.6% for all importing countries since 2016 when international purchases of cement were valued at $11.8 billion. Year over year, cement imports fell by -12.9%.
The 5 biggest importers of cement by value in 2020 were China, United States, Philippines, France and Netherlands. Collectively, those buyers represent 37.3% of cement bought on international markets.
From a continental perspective, buyers in Asian countries spent the most on imported cement during 2020 with purchases costing $4.3 billion or 38.9% of the global total. In second place were European importers at 25% while 14.1% of cement imported worldwide was delivered to North America ahead of the 13.3% worth sent to African customers.
Smaller percentages went to Latin America (6.7%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Oceania (2%) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for cement is 2523.
Cement Imports by Country
Top 15
Below are the 15 countries that bought the highest dollar value worth of cement during 2020.
- China: US$1.5 billion (13.6% of total cement imports)
- United States: $1.4 billion (12.8%)
- Philippines: $478.2 million (4.3%)
- France: $420 million (3.8%)
- Netherlands: $317.2 million (2.8%)
- Bangladesh: $309 million (2.8%)
- Israel: $292.2 million (2.6%)
- Hong Kong: $226.2 million (2%)
- Australia: $183.9 million (1.6%)
- Germany: $182.2 million (1.6%)
- Italy: $170.8 million (1.5%)
- Singapore: $147.3 million (1.3%)
- Belgium: $145.7 million (1.3%)
- Ghana: $140.9 million (1.3%)
- Uzbekistan: $130.9 million (1.2%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for cement from 2019 to 2020 were: Hong Kong (up 33%), China (up 31.5%), Israel (up 25.4%) and Italy (up 18%).
Those countries that posted declines in their imported cement purchases were led by: Ghana (down -55.9%), Bangladesh (down -51.8%), Singapore (down -31.9%) and Uzbekistan (down -14.7%).
The listed 15 countries purchased 54.6% of all cement imported in 2020.
China
Cement Imports into the People’s Republic of China
Mainland China’s global purchases of imported cement totaled US$1.5 billion in 2020. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which China imported the highest dollar value worth of cement during 2020. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2019 to 2020.
- Vietnam: US$958.5 million (up 20% from 2019)
- Indonesia: $135.3 million (up 118.3%)
- Thailand: $127.7 million (up 50.2%)
- Japan: $122.1 million (up 256.9%)
- South Korea: $89.3 million (down -15.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: $46.2 million (down -11%)
- Pakistan: $21.8 million (up 1,024%)
- Iran: $7.3 million (up 528%)
- Netherlands: $3.4 million (down -6.4%)
- France: $1.43 million (down -28.3%)
- United States: $1.4 million (down -65.8%)
- Germany: $1.2 million (down -26.8%)
- Hong Kong: $1.1 million (up 109,600%)
- Malaysia: $572,000 (down -0.7%)
- Spain: $259,000 (down -6.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.96% of cement imported by the People’s Republic of China in 2020.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cement to China from 2019 to 2020 were: Hong Kong (up 109,600%), Pakistan (up 1,024%), Iran (up 528%) and Japan (up 256.9%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cement supplied to Chinese importers included: United States (down -65.8%), France (down -28.3%), Germany (down -26.8%) and South Korea (down -15.8%).
Overall, the value of China’s imported cement accelerated by an average 31.5% from all supplying countries since 2019 when cement purchased cost $1.2 billion.
USA
Cement Imports into the United States
America’s global purchases of imported cement totaled US$1.43 billion in 2020. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the U.S. imported the highest dollar value worth of cement during 2020. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2019 to 2020.
- Canada: US$507.1 million (down -7% from 2019)
- Turkey: $318.7 million (up 11.3%)
- Mexico: $160.3 million (up 21.1%)
- Greece: $104.5 million (down -13.9%)
- Vietnam: $71.5 million (up 1040.1%)
- South Korea: $59.8 million (up 27.3%)
- Taiwan: $44 million (up 85.7%)
- France: $31.1 million (down -17.9%)
- Egypt: $28.9 million (up 15.7%)
- Denmark: $20.6 million (down -10.5%)
- Colombia: $20.2 million (up 156.4%)
- Spain: $18.1 million (down -20.3%)
- Croatia: $10.1 million (up 12.1%)
- Poland: $8.7 million (up 15.9%)
- Tunisia: $6.4 million (up 20.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.6% of cement imported by the United States of America in 2020.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cement to the United States from 2019 to 2020 were: Vietnam (up 1,040%), Colombia (up 156.4%), Taiwan (up 85.7%) and South Korea (up 27.3%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cement supplied to American importers included: Spain (down -20.3%), France (down -17.9%), Greece (down -13.9%) and Denmark (down -10.5%).
Overall, the value of US imported cement increased by an average 0.9% from all supplying countries since 2019 when cement purchased cost $1.42 billion.
Philippines
Cement Imports into Philippines
Philippines’ global purchases of imported cement totaled US$478.2 million in 2020. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the Philippines imported the highest dollar value worth of cement during 2020. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2019 to 2020.
- Vietnam: US$296.6 million (up 11% from 2019)
- Thailand: $44.9 million (down -43.7%)
- Indonesia: $34.3 million (up 119.2%)
- Japan: $30.1 million (down -6.2%)
- South Korea: $22.1 million (down -48.9%)
- Taiwan: $21.4 million (down -53.9%)
- China: $14.4 million (down -72.1%)
- Pakistan: $8.5 million (up 11,804%)
- Malaysia: $3.6 million (down -21.9%)
- United Arab Emirates: $1.9 million (up 1.2%)
- Egypt: $169,000 (up 344.7%)
- France: $69,000 (down -43.4%)
- Russia: $40,000 (no 2019 data)
- United Kingdom: $13,000 (down -74%)
- Iran: $4,000 (up 300%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9998% of cement imported by the Philippines in 2020.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cement to Philippines from 2019 to 2020 were: Pakistan (up 11,804%), Egypt (up 344.7%), Iran (up 300.0%) and Indonesia (up 119.2%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cement supplied to Filipino importers included: United Kingdom (down -74%), China (down -72.1%), Taiwan (down -53.9%) and South Korea (down -48.9%).
Overall, the value of the Philippines’ imported cement fell by an average -12.1% from all supplying countries since 2019 when cement purchased cost $543.9 million.
France
Cement Imports into France
France’s global purchases of imported cement totaled US$420 million in 2020. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which France imported the highest dollar value worth of cement during 2020. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2019 to 2020.
- Spain: US$97.3 million (up 26% from 2019)
- Belgium: $91.6 million (down -1.6%)
- Luxembourg: $47 million (up 8.2%)
- Germany: $32.8 million (down -4.1%)
- Italy: $29.3 million (up 9.5%)
- Greece: $16.3 million (up 65%)
- Turkey: $15 million (up 99.5%)
- Morocco: $11.2 million (up 16.1%)
- Saudi Arabia: $11 million (up 43.6%)
- Colombia: $9.7 million (down -67.1%)
- Portugal: $9.2 million (up 3.5%)
- Denmark: $8.8 million (up 11.7%)
- Venezuela: $7.9 million (no 2019 data)
- Vietnam: $7.7 million (down -27.3%)
- Malaysia: $5.9 million (down -15.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 95.4% of cement imported by France in 2020.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cement to France from 2019 to 2020 were: Turkey (up 99.5%), Greece (up 65%), Saudi Arabia (up 43.6%) and Spain (up 26.5%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cement supplied to French importers included: Colombia (down -67.1%), Vietnam (down -27.3%), Malaysia (down -15.2%) and Germany (down -4.1%).
Overall, the value of France’s imported cement retreated by an average -0.1% from all supplying countries since 2019 when cement purchased cost $420.6 million.
Searchable List of Cement Importer Countries in 2020
By value, the top 100 importers of cement in the searchable database below bought 95.3% of all cement imported worldwide.
| Rank | Importer | Cement Imports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $1,518,204,000 | +31.5% |
| 2. | United States | $1,429,787,000 | +0.9% |
| 3. | Philippines | $478,181,000 | -12.1% |
| 4. | France | $420,023,000 | -0.1% |
| 5. | Netherlands | $317,155,000 | -3.3% |
| 6. | Bangladesh | $308,952,000 | -51.8% |
| 7. | Israel | $292,235,000 | +25.4% |
| 8. | Hong Kong | $226,195,000 | +33% |
| 9. | Australia | $183,912,000 | -12.2% |
| 10. | Germany | $182,183,000 | +2.4% |
| 11. | Italy | $170,820,000 | +18% |
| 12. | Singapore | $147,264,000 | -31.9% |
| 13. | Belgium | $145,701,000 | +0.1% |
| 14. | Ghana | $140,869,000 | -55.9% |
| 15. | Uzbekistan | $130,868,000 | -14.7% |
| 16. | Poland | $129,528,000 | +23% |
| 17. | Canada | $127,054,000 | +3.2% |
| 18. | Taiwan | $120,807,000 | +0.4% |
| 19. | Sri Lanka | $120,089,000 | -34.9% |
| 20. | Guyana | $119,849,000 | +116.8% |
| 21. | Hungary | $119,456,000 | -6.1% |
| 22. | Mali | $118,680,000 | -41.1% |
| 23. | Austria | $117,517,000 | -1.5% |
| 24. | Ivory Coast | $114,988,000 | -32.2% |
| 25. | Afghanistan | $103,863,000 | #DIV/0! |
| 26. | Chile | $102,207,000 | -18.4% |
| 27. | India | $100,245,000 | -19.1% |
| 28. | Peru | $99,590,000 | +2.1% |
| 29. | Mozambique | $95,643,000 | +12.6% |
| 30. | Romania | $76,851,000 | +62.6% |
| 31. | Libya | $76,079,000 | -38.7% |
| 32. | Malaysia | $75,933,000 | -12.7% |
| 33. | Russia | $75,414,000 | -7.1% |
| 34. | Uganda | $74,237,000 | -9.5% |
| 35. | Guatemala | $74,122,000 | +15.5% |
| 36. | Myanmar | $67,784,000 | +7.1% |
| 37. | Cambodia | $66,478,000 | -50% |
| 38. | Spain | $65,944,000 | -6.0% |
| 39. | Czech Republic | $64,402,000 | +13.7% |
| 40. | Sweden | $63,927,000 | -0.1% |
| 41. | Switzerland | $60,633,000 | -0.9% |
| 42. | Thailand | $60,320,000 | -24.3% |
| 43. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $59,313,000 | +13.3% |
| 44. | Madagascar | $59,108,000 | -2.5% |
| 45. | Portugal | $58,381,000 | +18.6% |
| 46. | Botswana | $55,840,000 | -5% |
| 47. | Norway | $55,002,000 | -4.5% |
| 48. | South Africa | $54,919,000 | -17.3% |
| 49. | Kenya | $54,660,000 | -31.2% |
| 50. | Ukraine | $52,252,000 | +8.8% |
| 51. | Cameroon | $52,178,000 | -28.2% |
| 52. | Yemen | $51,047,000 | +22.5% |
| 53. | Slovakia | $50,536,000 | -9.1% |
| 54. | United Kingdom | $49,967,000 | -30% |
| 55. | Haiti | $49,964,000 | -36.5% |
| 56. | Paraguay | $48,321,000 | +87.6% |
| 57. | Guinea | $46,300,000 | -8.5% |
| 58. | Denmark | $45,586,000 | +6.5% |
| 59. | Colombia | $44,539,000 | -32.2% |
| 60. | Syrian Arab Republic | $42,906,000 | +10.2% |
| 61. | Kazakhstan | $42,696,000 | -3.6% |
| 62. | Senegal | $40,768,000 | +61.3% |
| 63. | Brazil | $40,645,000 | -10% |
| 64. | Montenegro | $39,566,000 | -3.3% |
| 65. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $39,071,000 | +3% |
| 66. | Serbia | $38,995,000 | +24.4% |
| 67. | Croatia | $38,327,000 | +7.8% |
| 68. | El Salvador | $38,149,000 | +8.1% |
| 69. | Georgia | $37,445,000 | -1.5% |
| 70. | Bulgaria | $36,720,000 | +44.6% |
| 71. | Slovenia | $34,900,000 | +11.1% |
| 72. | South Korea | $34,206,000 | -10.8% |
| 73. | Nepal | $32,087,000 | -41% |
| 74. | Malta | $31,518,000 | +5.6% |
| 75. | Japan | $30,264,000 | -10% |
| 76. | Gambia | $29,573,000 | +52.8% |
| 77. | Bahrain | $28,335,000 | -60.6% |
| 78. | South Sudan | $27,577,000 | 11.79 |
| 79. | Mauritius | $26,009,000 | -47% |
| 80. | Nicaragua | $25,494,000 | -33.9% |
| 81. | Togo | $25,310,000 | -1.9% |
| 82. | Belarus | $24,990,000 | -11.9% |
| 83. | Malawi | $24,702,000 | -38.3% |
| 84. | Eswatini | $24,649,000 | -9.6% |
| 85. | Sierra Leone | $24,387,000 | +19.7% |
| 86. | Morocco | $24,090,000 | +9.2% |
| 87. | Estonia | $22,602,000 | +115.9% |
| 88. | Laos | $22,203,000 | -62.1% |
| 89. | Dominican Republic | $21,455,000 | -24.6% |
| 90. | Greece | $21,068,000 | -1.3% |
| 91. | Mauritania | $20,772,000 | -46.9% |
| 92. | North Macedonia | $19,643,000 | +15.8% |
| 93. | Vietnam | $18,840,000 | -21.1% |
| 94. | Liberia | $18,693,000 | +3.8% |
| 95. | Sudan | $18,652,000 | -17.2% |
| 96. | Burundi | $18,469,000 | -58.3% |
| 97. | Trinidad/Tobago | $17,235,000 | -73% |
| 98. | Ireland | $17,099,000 | +10.4% |
| 99. | Lesotho | $16,914,000 | +92% |
| 100. | Kyrgyzstan | $16,887,000 | +16.6% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns in the above table. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2019 data was available.
See also Cement Exports by Country, America’s Top Trading Partners and Sri Lanka’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on June 21, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 21, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 21, 2021
Wikipedia, Cement. Accessed on June 21, 2021
