Paintings and drawings may be subjective art where traditionally beauty resides in the eye of the beholder. What’s statistically indisputable is that exported artwork places among the fastest-growing commodities sold in the international marketplace.
The 5 biggest exporters of paintings and drawings are the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Switzerland and France. Collectively, this leading quintet of art suppliers generated 83.6% of overall exported paintings and drawings during 2020. That percentage indicates a relatively concentrated set of art exporting nations.
Among continents, suppliers in Europe sold the highest dollar amount for exported paintings and drawings during 2020 with shipments valued at $7 billion approaching half (46.6%) of the global total. In second place were North American exporters at 39.3% while another 13.2% of total revenues from the international sale of paintings and drawings originated from Asia.
Tinier percentages came from exporters in Latin America (0.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (0.3%) led by Australia, and Africa (0.2%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 970110 which encompasses oil, watercolor and pastel paintings as well as drawings.
Exported Paintings and Drawings by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of paintings and drawings during 2020.
- United States: US$5.8 billion (38.9% of total paintings/drawings exports)
- United Kingdom: $4.5 billion (30%)
- Hong Kong: $978.5 million (6.5%)
- Switzerland: $616.9 million (4.1%)
- France: $594.9 million (4%)
- China: $456.1 million (3%)
- Spain: $357.3 million (2.4%)
- Germany: $326.4 million (2.2%)
- Singapore: $261.7 million (1.8%)
- Italy: $135.9 million (0.9%)
- Austria: $124.8 million (0.8%)
- Norway: $103.5 million (0.7%)
- Japan: $88.9 million (0.6%)
- South Korea: $66.2 million (0.4%)
- Canada: $61 million (0.4%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 96.8% of globally exported paintings/drawings in 2020.
The top exporters of paintings and drawings that expanded their international sales since 2019 were: Norway (up 924.8%), Spain (up 580.6%), Austria (up 47.2%) and South Korea (up 13.9%).
Those countries that posted declines in their international sales of paintings and drawings were led by: Canada (down -77%), Japan (down -65.4%), Hong Kong (down -50.6%), United Kingdom (down -47.9%) and Switzerland (down -47.4%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for paintings and drawings 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 exported paintings and drawings and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: US$3.2 billion (net export surplus down -51.5% since 2019)
- United States: $2.3 billion (up 43.8%)
- Spain: $318.1 million (reversing a -$1.8 million deficit)
- France: $138.2 million (down -74.4%)
- Italy: $73 million (down -26.9%)
- Norway: $65.1 million (reversing a -$21 million deficit)
- Singapore: $58.8 million (reversing a -$5.2 million deficit)
- Brazil: $32.3 million (down -86.2%)
- South Africa: $16.3 million (reversing a -$1.7 million deficit)
- Kazakhstan: $11.8 million (reversing a -$183,000 deficit)
- Argentina: $11.7 million (down -97.6%)
- India: $7.1 million (reversing an -$11.3 million deficit)
- Cuba: $6.1 million (up 40%)
- Hungary: $6.1 million (reversing an -$11 million deficit)
- Philippines: $5 million (up 362.1%)
Overtaking the United States of America in 2020, the United Kingdom earned the highest surplus in the international trade of paintings and drawings. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the UK’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for paintings and drawings 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 imported paintings and drawings purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Hong Kong: -US$1.3 billion (net export deficit down -19.6% since 2019)
- Germany: -$859.7 million (reversing a $48.8 million surplus)
- Switzerland: -$616.4 million (up 52.9%)
- Japan: -$335.5 million (up 184.1%)
- Andorra: -$318.3 million (up 21,506%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$194.7 million (down -81.4%)
- South Korea: -$148.6 million (down -30.9%)
- Belgium: -$71.2 million (up 139.3%)
- Canada: -$31.3 million (down -125.9%)
- Sweden: -$27 million (up 2,576%)
- Taiwan: -$26.8 million (down -51.2%)
- China: -$23.5 million (reversing a -$50.8 million deficit)
- Austria: -$20.1 million (down -66.5%)
- Australia: -$20 million (down -49.4%)
- Macao: -$13.6 million (down -0.9%)
Global trade hub Hong Kong incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of paintings and drawings. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Hong Kong’s strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for paintings and drawings-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among Hong Kong traders.
Companies
Paintings and Drawings Export Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of international companies engaged in international sales of paintings and drawings. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Art Sender (Canada)
- Fuzhou Baodeyou Trading Co, Ltd (China)
- Global Star Trading (HK) Limited (Hong Kong)
- Goldbrush Inc (United States)
- Quang Thanh Company Limited (Vietnam)
- Ravi Exports (India)
- Tokyo Fujishokai Co, Ltd (Japan)
- Tumadi Traditional Batik Painting (Singapore)
- YH-Arts Limited (United Kingdom)
- Yuen Young Plastics Co, Ltd (Taiwan)
Searchable List of Paintings/Drawings Exporting Countries in 2020
The 100 key exporters of paintings and drawings in the following automated database represent 99.99% of the overall value of globally exported paintings and drawings for 2020.
| Rank | Exporter | Painting/Drawing Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $5,821,163,000 | -36.9% |
| 2. | United Kingdom | $4,491,537,000 | -47.9% |
| 3. | Hong Kong | $978,535,000 | -50.6% |
| 4. | Switzerland | $616,945,000 | -47.4% |
| 5. | France | $594,863,000 | -31.1% |
| 6. | China | $456,129,000 | -15.9% |
| 7. | Spain | $357,291,000 | +580.6% |
| 8. | Germany | $326,433,000 | -25.8% |
| 9. | Singapore | $261,749,000 | -4% |
| 10. | Italy | $135,867,000 | -32.2% |
| 11. | Austria | $124,758,000 | +47.2% |
| 12. | Norway | $103,539,000 | +924.8% |
| 13. | Japan | $88,897,000 | -65.4% |
| 14. | South Korea | $66,195,000 | +13.9% |
| 15. | Canada | $60,998,000 | -77% |
| 16. | Belgium | $54,911,000 | -22% |
| 17. | Denmark | $50,975,000 | +69.6% |
| 18. | India | $42,655,000 | -39.4% |
| 19. | Netherlands | $42,533,000 | -14.5% |
| 20. | Brazil | $36,991,000 | -84.7% |
| 21. | Australia | $31,943,000 | -14.5% |
| 22. | South Africa | $23,987,000 | +6.3% |
| 23. | Israel | $19,215,000 | -53.4% |
| 24. | Sweden | $15,980,000 | +8.4% |
| 25. | Luxembourg | $14,141,000 | +283.1% |
| 26. | Kazakhstan | $11,896,000 | +108046% |
| 27. | Argentina | $11,817,000 | -97.6% |
| 28. | Taiwan | $10,060,000 | +68.1% |
| 29. | United Arab Emirates | $9,190,000 | -98.9% |
| 30. | Hungary | $8,565,000 | +340.4% |
| 31. | Cuba | $6,139,000 | +36.6% |
| 32. | Philippines | $6,029,000 | +104.7% |
| 33. | New Zealand | $5,598,000 | -13.9% |
| 34. | Portugal | $5,048,000 | +32.1% |
| 35. | Poland | $4,767,000 | -19.4% |
| 36. | Turkey | $4,732,000 | -50.7% |
| 37. | Trinidad/Tobago | $4,713,000 | -46.2% |
| 38. | Ireland | $3,916,000 | -60.4% |
| 39. | Colombia | $3,137,000 | -32.7% |
| 40. | Iran | $2,889,000 | -6% |
| 41. | Czech Republic | $2,809,000 | -52.9% |
| 42. | Lebanon | $2,648,000 | +136.9% |
| 43. | Bahamas | $2,134,000 | -76.1% |
| 44. | British Virgin Is | $1,976,000 | -78.4% |
| 45. | Indonesia | $1,743,000 | -29.8% |
| 46. | Iceland | $1,569,000 | +20.5% |
| 47. | Finland | $1,512,000 | -56.7% |
| 48. | Thailand | $1,439,000 | -0.1% |
| 49. | Greece | $1,436,000 | -88.4% |
| 50. | Morocco | $1,283,000 | -3.2% |
| 51. | Venezuela | $1,194,000 | -66.2% |
| 52. | Malaysia | $1,170,000 | -33.5% |
| 53. | Russia | $1,105,000 | +91.2% |
| 54. | Cayman Islands | $1,081,000 | +1172% |
| 55. | Estonia | $944,000 | -52% |
| 56. | Belarus | $904,000 | +2913% |
| 57. | Ghana | $891,000 | +50% |
| 58. | Uruguay | $802,000 | -38.5% |
| 59. | Serbia | $758,000 | +28.9% |
| 60. | Panama | $741,000 | -59.3% |
| 61. | Slovakia | $621,000 | -80.6% |
| 62. | Jamaica | $602,000 | +327% |
| 63. | Haiti | $571,000 | -5.9% |
| 64. | Antigua/Barbuda | $521,000 | +52000% |
| 65. | Georgia | $457,000 | +962.8% |
| 66. | Ivory Coast | $391,000 | -17.2% |
| 67. | Bangladesh | $375,000 | +715.2% |
| 68. | Kuwait | $337,000 | -87.1% |
| 69. | Gibraltar | $332,000 | -32.2% |
| 70. | Slovenia | $310,000 | +49.8% |
| 71. | Peru | $308,000 | -13.5% |
| 72. | Chile | $276,000 | +9.5% |
| 73. | Lithuania | $270,000 | -19.6% |
| 74. | Bahrain | $235,000 | -2.5% |
| 75. | Egypt | $222,000 | +1486% |
| 76. | Cyprus | $218,000 | -90.8% |
| 77. | Cameroon | $209,000 | -44.6% |
| 78. | Croatia | $199,000 | +30.9% |
| 79. | Bulgaria | $198,000 | -70.9% |
| 80. | Macao | $194,000 | +1840% |
| 81. | Saudi Arabia | $181,000 | -90.8% |
| 82. | Sri Lanka | $172,000 | +1047% |
| 83. | Mauritius | $167,000 | -95.8% |
| 84. | Ethiopia | $164,000 | +57.7% |
| 85. | New Caledonia | $163,000 | +352.8% |
| 86. | Costa Rica | $159,000 | -3% |
| 87. | Ukraine | $158,000 | -53.7% |
| 88. | Namibia | $157,000 | -46.2% |
| 89. | French Polynesia | $153,000 | -17.7% |
| 90. | Mali | $151,000 | 0% |
| 91. | Vietnam | $146,000 | -51.2% |
| 92. | Saint Lucia | $142,000 | -38% |
| 93. | Mexico | $141,000 | -83.1% |
| 94. | Iraq | $139,000 | -74.4% |
| 95. | Jordan | $135,000 | -85.6% |
| 96. | North Macedonia | $128,000 | +66.2% |
| 97. | Zambia | $109,000 | +505.6% |
| 98. | Dominican Republic | $109,000 | -60.5% |
| 99. | Syrian Arab Republic | $108,000 | -85.8% |
| 100. | Andorra | $103,000 | +18.4% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that data for 2019 was unavailable.
See also Diamond Exports by Country, Top Sculptures Exporters by Country and Wine Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for paintings and drawings. Accessed on September 14, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on September 14, 2021
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 14, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 14, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 14, 2021
Wikipedia, Fine art. Accessed on September 14, 2021
