Overall, the value of cheese exports increased by an average 20.3% for all exporting countries since 2015 when total cheese shipments were valued at $26.7 billion. Year over year, the value of global cheese exports slowed by -0.3% from 2018 to 2019.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of exported cheese with shipments amounting to $27 billion or 84% of globally exported cheese. Cheese exports mostly from New Zealand and Australia in Oceania took a 6.3% share, well ahead of North American exporters at 5.1%. Smaller percentages came from Asia (2.2%), Latin America (2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Africa (0.5%).
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 2019.
- Germany: US$4.6 billion (14.2% of total cheese exports)
- Netherlands: $4.2 billion (12.9%)
- Italy: $3.6 billion (11.1%)
- France: $3.5 billion (10.9%)
- Denmark: $1.62 billion (5%)
- United States: $1.57 billion (4.9%)
- New Zealand: $1.3 billion (4.1%)
- Ireland: $1.2 billion (3.6%)
- Belgium: $1.1 billion (3.3%)
- Belarus: $956.2 million (3%)
- United Kingdom: $903.8 million (2.8%)
- Poland: $889.7 million (2.8%)
- Austria: $708.4 million (2.2%)
- Australia: $688.2 million (2.1%)
- Switzerland: $644.4 million (2%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 85% of global cheese exported in 2019 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cheese exporters since 2015 were: Belarus (up 49.7%), Ireland (up 48.9%), Italy (up 42.5%) and Poland (up 36.8%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for cheese 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 cheese exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Netherlands: US$2.7 billion (net export surplus up 21.7% since 2015)
- France: $1.6 billion (down -14.7%)
- Italy: $1.5 billion (up 106.7%)
- New Zealand: $1.3 billion (up 12%)
- Denmark: $1.2 billion (up 15.1%)
- Belarus: $934.9 million (up 52%)
- Ireland: $869.8 million (up 56.7%)
- Poland: $463.3 million (up 27.8%)
- Argentina: $231.4 million (up 36.1%)
- United States: $207.3 million (up 377.3%)
- Switzerland: $207.2 million (down -12.2%)
- Australia: $205.2 million (down -7.5%)
- Cyprus: $194.3 million (up 162%)
- Lithuania: $177.7 million (up 7.4%)
- Nicaragua: $145.1 million (up 36.4%)
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 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 cheese import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$1.3 billion (net export deficit up 25.9% since 2015)
- United Kingdom: -$1.3 billion (down -0.2%)
- Russia: -$1.1 billion (up 63%)
- Spain: -$640.8 million (up 30.8%)
- Sweden: -$600.7 million (up 25.4%)
- South Korea: -$551.4 million (up 10.5%)
- China: -$521.1 million (up 50.2%)
- Belgium: -$480.1 million (up 15.7%)
- Mexico: -$470.7 million (down -2.8%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$340.1 million (up 3%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$276.3 million (down -6.9%)
- Romania: -$260 million (up 131.1%)
- Finland: -$250.4 million (up 1.9%)
- Canada: -$248.8 million (up 30.7%)
- Portugal: -$209.5 million (up 59.2%)
Japan incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of cheese. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Japan’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for cheese-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from Japanese consumers and businesses.
Companies
Cheese Exporting Companies
Below are the top dairy companies that dominate the worldwide trade in cheese and other dairy products in 2015. This ranked list was compiled by market information researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)-AID. Shown within brackets is where headquarters is located for the cheese exporting companies.
- Nestle (Switzerland)
- Danone (France)
- Lactalis including Parmalat (France)
- Fonterra (New Zealand)
- FrieslandCampina (Netherlands)
- Dairy Farmers of America (United States)
- Arla Foods (Denmark)
- Saputo (Canada)
- Dean Foods (United State)
- Yili Group (China)
- Unilever (Netherlands/United Kingdom)
- Meiji Dairies (Japan)
- DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH (Germany)
- Mengniu Dairy (China)
Searchable List of Cheese Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2018 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Cheese Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $4,575,815,000 | -1% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $4,156,537,000 | +2.1% |
| 3. | Italy | $3,574,498,000 | +7.1% |
| 4. | France | $3,513,872,000 | -4.1% |
| 5. | Denmark | $1,615,437,000 | -7.7% |
| 6. | United States | $1,571,465,000 | +6.9% |
| 7. | New Zealand | $1,324,819,000 | +0.3% |
| 8. | Ireland | $1,164,046,000 | +21% |
| 9. | Belgium | $1,073,098,000 | +4.2% |
| 10. | Belarus | $956,239,000 | +17.9% |
| 11. | United Kingdom | $903,843,000 | +0.2% |
| 12. | Poland | $889,743,000 | -4.3% |
| 13. | Austria | $708,438,000 | +1.6% |
| 14. | Australia | $688,167,000 | -9.7% |
| 15. | Switzerland | $644,359,000 | +1.3% |
| 16. | Spain | $612,439,000 | +2.5% |
| 17. | Greece | $521,606,000 | -1.7% |
| 18. | Saudi Arabia | $320,401,000 | +3.5% |
| 19. | Cyprus | $253,678,000 | +6.1% |
| 20. | Argentina | $241,969,000 | -2.6% |
| 21. | Lithuania | $239,374,000 | +6.1% |
| 22. | Czech Republic | $233,901,000 | -2.3% |
| 23. | Luxembourg | $214,450,000 | -19.9% |
| 24. | Hungary | $165,122,000 | +13.2% |
| 25. | Slovakia | $163,484,000 | +5.4% |
| 26. | Turkey | $158,965,000 | -4.5% |
| 27. | Nicaragua | $152,143,000 | +31.5% |
| 28. | Uruguay | $106,891,000 | -11.8% |
| 29. | Latvia | $106,621,000 | +8% |
| 30. | Bulgaria | $101,357,000 | +4.1% |
| 31. | Estonia | $86,844,000 | +10% |
| 32. | Russia | $82,327,000 | +21% |
| 33. | Sweden | $74,775,000 | +3% |
| 34. | Bahrain | $65,392,000 | -47.7% |
| 35. | Canada | $62,410,000 | +19.9% |
| 36. | Romania | $62,112,000 | +2.4% |
| 37. | Finland | $61,940,000 | +9.3% |
| 38. | Norway | $61,486,000 | -13.7% |
| 39. | Egypt | $59,061,000 | -78% |
| 40. | Serbia | $53,279,000 | -0.9% |
| 41. | Morocco | $50,673,000 | -10.8% |
| 42. | Portugal | $42,499,000 | -3.3% |
| 43. | Chile | $39,860,000 | +24.1% |
| 44. | South Africa | $39,050,000 | -6.3% |
| 45. | Croatia | $35,434,000 | -14.7% |
| 46. | India | $34,554,000 | -4.7% |
| 47. | Slovenia | $34,487,000 | -9.8% |
| 48. | El Salvador | $24,946,000 | +9.3% |
| 49. | Mexico | $17,063,000 | -33.6% |
| 50. | Brazil | $16,769,000 | -5.9% |
| 51. | Singapore | $16,429,000 | +17.7% |
| 52. | Honduras | $15,527,000 | +28.2% |
| 53. | Ukraine | $15,490,000 | -49.7% |
| 54. | Costa Rica | $13,937,000 | -18.5% |
| 55. | Kazakhstan | $10,798,000 | +22.4% |
| 56. | Japan | $10,363,000 | -1.8% |
| 57. | Hong Kong | $10,322,000 | +21.3% |
| 58. | Kyrgyzstan | $8,784,000 | +38.4% |
| 59. | Azerbaijan | $8,420,000 | +213.1% |
| 60. | Israel | $7,156,000 | -6.5% |
| 61. | Armenia | $6,969,000 | -18.1% |
| 62. | Jordan | $5,898,000 | -81.7% |
| 63. | Jamaica | $5,486,000 | -25.5% |
| 64. | Moldova | $5,316,000 | -1.2% |
| 65. | Colombia | $5,300,000 | +34.8% |
| 66. | Malaysia | $5,201,000 | -3.3% |
| 67. | Tunisia | $4,864,000 | -41.7% |
| 68. | Iran | $4,809,000 | -97.6% |
| 69. | Thailand | $4,657,000 | +23.8% |
| 70. | Iceland | $4,337,000 | -31.5% |
| 71. | Indonesia | $4,189,000 | +16% |
| 72. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $4,013,000 | +5.3% |
| 73. | South Korea | $3,703,000 | +69.6% |
| 74. | Panama | $3,504,000 | -14.3% |
| 75. | United Arab Emirates | $3,460,000 | -90% |
| 76. | Vietnam | $3,071,000 | -31.2% |
| 77. | Taiwan | $2,934,000 | +46.8% |
| 78. | Peru | $2,557,000 | +77.9% |
| 79. | Algeria | $2,503,000 | +13,074% |
| 80. | Syria | $1,947,000 | -57.3% |
| 81. | North Macedonia | $1,803,000 | +3.4% |
| 82. | Paraguay | $1,095,000 | -22.5% |
| 83. | China | $906,000 | -24.3% |
| 84. | Dominican Republic | $890,000 | -59.7% |
| 85. | Guatemala | $783,000 | +31.8% |
| 86. | Nepal | $700,000 | +150.9% |
| 87. | Philippines | $619,000 | +144.7% |
| 88. | Georgia | $615,000 | +107.8% |
| 89. | Mauritius | $545,000 | -5.1% |
| 90. | Albania | $380,000 | 0% |
| 91. | Zimbabwe | $305,000 | 0% |
| 92. | Ecuador | $254,000 | -33.7% |
| 93. | Sudan | $239,000 | +1,738% |
| 94. | Venezuela | $194,000 | +128.2% |
| 95. | Niger | $186,000 | 0% |
| 96. | Lebanon | $88,000 | -96.5% |
| 97. | Senegal | $77,000 | -56.3% |
| 98. | Oman | $63,000 | -96.6% |
| 99. | Iraq | $61,000 | -73.9% |
| 100. | Namibia | $57,000 | -23% |
| 101. | Mongolia | $51,000 | -33.8% |
| 102. | Faroe Islands | $46,000 | 0% |
| 103. | Turkmenistan | $33,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Palestine | $30,000 | -98.2% |
| 105. | Andorra | $26,000 | 0% |
| 106. | Malta | $26,000 | -99.2% |
| 107. | Mozambique | $24,000 | +500% |
| 108. | Afghanistan | $20,000 | 0% |
| 109. | Botswana | $18,000 | -92.4% |
| 110. | Benin | $18,000 | 0% |
| 111. | Kuwait | $17,000 | -99.6% |
| 112. | Zambia | $15,000 | +400% |
| 113. | Macao | $13,000 | 0% |
| 114. | St Maarten (Dutch) | $13,000 | -93% |
| 115. | Haiti | $10,000 | 0% |
| 116. | Mali | $10,000 | +66.7% |
| 117. | Bermuda | $10,000 | -56.5% |
| 118. | Aruba | $9,000 | -82% |
| 119. | Curaçao | $7,000 | +133.3% |
| 120. | Nauru | $6,000 | 0% |
| 121. | Brunei Darussalam | $3,000 | -50% |
| 122. | Togo | $3,000 | -91.4% |
| 123. | Tajikistan | $2,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Ghana | $2,000 | 0% |
| 125. | Malawi | $2,000 | -33.3% |
| 126. | Lesotho | $1,000 | -83.3% |
| 127. | Grenada | $1,000 | 0% |
| 128. | Ethiopia | $1,000 | 0% |
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 May 7, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 7, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 7, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 7, 2020
Wikipedia, Cheese. Accessed on May 7, 2020
