Overall, the value of cheese exports increased by an average 22.9% for all exporting countries since 2016 when total cheese shipments were valued at $26.7 billion. From 2019 to 2020, the value of global cheese exports gained 1.2%.
Shipments from the 5 biggest cheese exporters (Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, United States) account for 54% of the worldwide value of cheese exported in 2020.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of exported cheese with shipments amounting to $27.4 billion or 83.5% of globally exported cheese. Cheese exports mostly from New Zealand and Australia in Oceania took a 6% share, ahead of North American exporters at 5.2%.
Smaller percentages came from Asia (2.5%), Latin America (2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Africa (0.8%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for cheese and curd is 0406.
Cheese Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2020.
- Germany: US$4.8 billion (14.6% of total cheese exports)
- Netherlands: $4.2 billion (12.9%)
- Italy: $3.6 billion (10.9%)
- France: $3.5 billion (10.7%)
- United States: $1.61 billion (4.9%)
- Denmark: $1.60 billion (4.9%)
- New Zealand: $1.3 billion (4%)
- Ireland: $1.2 billion (3.6%)
- Belarus: $1 billion (3.2%)
- Belgium: $960.8 million (2.9%)
- Poland: $923.2 million (2.8%)
- United Kingdom: $839.6 million (2.6%)
- Austria: $727.6 million (2.2%)
- Switzerland: $708.2 million (2.2%)
- Australia: $665.1 million (2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 84.3% of global cheese exported in 2020.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cheese exporters since 2019 were: Switzerland (up 9.9%), Austria (up 6.2%), Belarus (up 4.1%) and Poland (up 3.8%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported cheese sales were led by: United Kingdom (down -7.1%), Australia (down -3.3%), Italy (down -0.8%), New Zealand (down -0.4%) and France (down -0.1%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for cheese during 2020. 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 cheese exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Netherlands: US$2.8 billion (net export surplus up 7.4% since 2019)
- Italy: $1.7 billion (up 10.2%)
- France: $1.4 billion (down -9.4%)
- New Zealand: $1.3 billion (up 0.5%)
- Denmark: $1.2 billion (down -1%)
- Belarus: $1 billion (up 3.8%)
- Ireland: $863.9 million (down -0.9%)
- Poland: $500.8 million (up 8.1%)
- United States: $377.6 million (up 82.2%)
- Argentina: $259.9 million (up 12.3%)
- Switzerland: $225.8 million (up 9%)
- Cyprus: $218.5 million (up 12.1%)
- Australia: $158.1 million (down -22.9%)
- Lithuania: $154.4 million (down -13.1%)
- Turkey: $151.2 million (up 14.2%)
The Netherlands generated the highest surplus in the international trade of cheese. In turn, this positive albeit slowing cashflow confirms Netherlands’ strong competitive advantage for this specific product category in part due to its strategic location for distributing cheese products to fellow European markets.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for cheese during 2020. 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 cheese import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: -US$1.33 billion (net export deficit up 2.6% since 2019)
- Japan: -$1.26 billion (down -3.9%)
- Russia: -$1.1 billion (up 6.5%)
- South Korea: -$623.1 million (up 13%)
- Sweden: -$618 million (up 2.8%)
- Belgium: -$604.1 million (up 19.1%)
- Spain: -$599.8 million (down -11.1%)
- China: -$588.4 million (up 12.9%)
- Mexico: -$456.2 million (down -11.9%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$346.7 million (up 2%)
- Romania: -$302.3 million (up 18.3%)
- Canada: -$279.7 million (up 12.4%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$254.4 million (down -13.6%)
- Finland: -$239.4 million (down -4.6%)
- Portugal: -$198 million (down -5%)
The United Kingdom and Japan incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of cheese. In turn, these negative cashflows highlight Japan’s and the UK’s competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for cheese-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from consumers and businesses.
Companies
Cheese Exporting Companies
Below are the top dairy companies that dominate the worldwide trade in cheese and other dairy products. This ranked list was compiled by market information researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)-AID. Shown within brackets is where headquarters is located for the cheese exporting companies.
- Nestle (Switzerland)
- Danone (France)
- Lactalis including Parmalat (France)
- Fonterra (New Zealand)
- FrieslandCampina (Netherlands)
- Dairy Farmers of America (United States)
- Arla Foods (Denmark)
- Saputo (Canada)
- Dean Foods (United State)
- Yili Group (China)
- Unilever (Netherlands/United Kingdom)
- Meiji Dairies (Japan)
- DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH (Germany)
- Mengniu Dairy (China)
Searchable List of Cheese Exporting Countries in 2020
The 100 major exporters of cheese in the database below represent 99.996% of the value of cheese sold on international markets during 2020.
| Rank | Exporter | Cheese Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $4,782,273,000 | +3.8% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $4,233,824,000 | +2.9% |
| 3. | Italy | $3,561,707,000 | -0.8% |
| 4. | France | $3,510,571,000 | -0.1% |
| 5. | United States | $1,611,565,000 | +2.6% |
| 6. | Denmark | $1,604,553,000 | -0.05% |
| 7. | New Zealand | $1,318,955,000 | -0.4% |
| 8. | Ireland | $1,177,380,000 | +0.9% |
| 9. | Belarus | $1,036,391,000 | +4.1% |
| 10. | Belgium | $960,772,000 | -0.1% |
| 11. | Poland | $923,244,000 | +3.8% |
| 12. | United Kingdom | $839,614,000 | -7.1% |
| 13. | Austria | $727,593,000 | +6.2% |
| 14. | Switzerland | $708,239,000 | +9.9% |
| 15. | Australia | $665,136,000 | -3.3% |
| 16. | Greece | $602,763,000 | +15.6% |
| 17. | Spain | $581,388,000 | +1.9% |
| 18. | Saudi Arabia | $336,554,000 | +5% |
| 19. | Cyprus | $268,921,000 | +5.8% |
| 20. | Argentina | $264,996,000 | +9.5% |
| 21. | Czech Republic | $257,910,000 | +10.3% |
| 22. | Lithuania | $223,341,000 | -6.7% |
| 23. | Luxembourg | $206,228,000 | -2.2% |
| 24. | Egypt | $199,725,000 | -21.2% |
| 25. | Turkey | $185,905,000 | +6.3% |
| 26. | Hungary | $170,996,000 | +2.4% |
| 27. | Slovakia | $162,935,000 | +0.1% |
| 28. | Nicaragua | $146,731,000 | +18.7% |
| 29. | Uruguay | $107,813,000 | +0.9% |
| 30. | Latvia | $106,601,000 | -0.3% |
| 31. | Bulgaria | $102,853,000 | +2.9% |
| 32. | Russia | $95,994,000 | +16.6% |
| 33. | Estonia | $89,391,000 | +2.9% |
| 34. | Sweden | $72,614,000 | -3% |
| 35. | Bahrain | $68,387,000 | -45.2% |
| 36. | Finland | $64,557,000 | +4.2% |
| 37. | Romania | $63,303,000 | +3.6% |
| 38. | Canada | $61,601,000 | -1.3% |
| 39. | Serbia | $51,408,000 | -3.5% |
| 40. | Norway | $47,767,000 | -22.3% |
| 41. | India | $39,393,000 | +16% |
| 42. | Portugal | $39,122,000 | -8.7% |
| 43. | South Africa | $37,955,000 | -2.8% |
| 44. | Slovenia | $36,302,000 | +4.4% |
| 45. | Croatia | $33,812,000 | -2.8% |
| 46. | Chile | $33,498,000 | -16% |
| 47. | El Salvador | $33,106,000 | +32.7% |
| 48. | Morocco | $28,772,000 | -43.2% |
| 49. | Jordan | $27,786,000 | -16.9% |
| 50. | Ukraine | $24,319,000 | -9.2% |
| 51. | Mexico | $22,663,000 | -8.8% |
| 52. | Brazil | $18,884,000 | +12.6% |
| 53. | Singapore | $18,045,000 | +9.8% |
| 54. | Honduras | $15,273,000 | +1.3% |
| 55. | Japan | $13,694,000 | +32.1% |
| 56. | Costa Rica | $11,533,000 | -17.2% |
| 57. | Azerbaijan | $11,481,000 | +36.4% |
| 58. | Armenia | $11,391,000 | +58.6% |
| 59. | Kazakhstan | $10,629,000 | -1.6% |
| 60. | Kyrgyzstan | $9,813,000 | +11.7% |
| 61. | Hong Kong | $9,443,000 | -8.5% |
| 62. | United Arab Emirates | $9,004,000 | -83.1% |
| 63. | Malaysia | $7,555,000 | +45.3% |
| 64. | Moldova | $7,243,000 | +33% |
| 65. | Indonesia | $7,183,000 | +77.1% |
| 66. | Israel | $7,165,000 | +0.1% |
| 67. | Colombia | $6,124,000 | +25.4% |
| 68. | South Korea | $5,943,000 | +60.5% |
| 69. | Jamaica | $4,885,000 | -32.5% |
| 70. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $4,689,000 | +16.8% |
| 71. | Syrian Arab Republic | $4,418,000 | -39.6% |
| 72. | Iceland | $4,241,000 | -2.2% |
| 73. | Thailand | $4,135,000 | -11.2% |
| 74. | Viet Nam | $3,963,000 | -14.1% |
| 75. | Panama | $3,813,000 | +7.2% |
| 76. | Iran | $3,600,000 | -50% |
| 77. | Taiwan | $2,422,000 | -17.5% |
| 78. | Dominican Republic | $2,336,000 | -21.4% |
| 79. | Lebanon | $2,074,000 | -16.6% |
| 80. | Peru | $2,070,000 | -19% |
| 81. | North Macedonia | $2,018,000 | +11.9% |
| 82. | China | $1,941,000 | +114.2% |
| 83. | Tunisia | $1,740,000 | -88.1% |
| 84. | Kuwait | $1,508,000 | +156.5% |
| 85. | Philippines | $1,160,000 | +87.4% |
| 86. | Malta | $1,020,000 | +3823% |
| 87. | Paraguay | $828,000 | -24.4% |
| 88. | Mauritius | $675,000 | +24.1% |
| 89. | Zimbabwe | $496,000 | +62.6% |
| 90. | Georgia | $489,000 | +29.7% |
| 91. | Iraq | $451,000 | +401.1% |
| 92. | Namibia | $443,000 | +677.2% |
| 93. | Guatemala | $413,000 | -47.3% |
| 94. | Kenya | $393,000 | -3% |
| 95. | Qatar | $377,000 | +0.8% |
| 96. | Trinidad/Tobago | $316,000 | -41.9% |
| 97. | Ecuador | $275,000 | +8.3% |
| 98. | Nepal | $250,000 | +64.5% |
| 99. | Venezuela | $247,000 | +9.3% |
| 100. | Norfolk Island | $187,000 | 0% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns above. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2019 data was available.
See also Cheese Imports by Country, Flour Exports by Country and Wheat Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)-AID, market information centre, Top Global Dairy Companies, Processing Sector. Accessed on July 18, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 18, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 18, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 18, 2021
Wikipedia, Cheese. Accessed on July 18, 2021
