That dollar amount breaks down to $3 billion (89.8% of the total) for unsweetened cocoa powder plus the remaining $340.6 million for sweetened cocoa powder (10.2%).
Overall, the value of hot chocolate exports in 2021 increased by 20% from $2.79 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, export sales for hot chocolate advanced by 16.7% compared to $2.88 billion in 2020.
From a continental perspective, 54.7% of total exported hot chocolate sales originated from suppliers in Europe while another 27.7% was shipped from suppliers in Asia.
Smaller percentages came from Africa (7%), North America (6.4%), Latin America (3.9%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Oceania (0.2 %) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for unsweetened cocoa powder is 1805. The 6-digit prefix for sweetened cocoa powder is 180610.
Hot Chocolate Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of overall hot chocolate shipped during 2021.
- Netherlands: US$872.2 million (26% of exported hot chocolate)
- Malaysia: $377.6 million (11.3%)
- Germany: $355.4 million (10.6%)
- Indonesia: $259.6 million (7.7%)
- Spain: $223.5 million (6.7%)
- France: $168.8 million (5%)
- United States: $146.4 million (4.4%)
- Ghana: $143.9 million (4.3%)
- Singapore: $139.9 million (4.2%)
- Ivory Coast: $68.9 million (2.1%)
- Brazil: $64.6 million (1.9%)
- Turkey: $57.6 million (1.7%)
- Italy: $47.8 million (1.4%)
- Belgium: $39.2 million (1.2%)
- Canada: $27.8 million (0.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 89.2% of globally exported hot chocolate in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing hot chocolate exporters since 2017 were: Ghana (up 106%), Indonesia (up 69.9%), Turkey (up 59.6%) and Spain (up 28.0%).
A pair of top suppliers posted declines in their exported hot chocolate sales namely Belgium (down -22.6%) and Italy (down -16.9%)
Unsweetened Hot Chocolate Powder Exports
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of unsweetened cocoa powder shipped during 2021.
- Netherlands: US$866.1 million (28.7% of exported unsweetened cocoa powder)
- Malaysia: $355.7 million (11.8%)
- Germany: $314.6 million (10.4%)
- Indonesia: $253.9 million (8.4%)
- Spain: $217.3 million (7.2%)
- France: $162.4 million (5.4%)
- Ghana: $130.9 million (4.3%)
- Singapore: $128.7 million (4.3%)
- United States: $116.1 million (3.9%)
- Ivory Coast: $68.8 million (2.3%)
- Brazil: $64.2 million (2.1%)
- Turkey: $56.8 million (1.9%)
- Italy: $37 million (1.2%)
- Belgium: $28.6 million (0.9%)
- Canada: $25.5 million (0.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 93.8% of global exports for unsweetened cocoa powder in 2017.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing exporters of unsweetened cocoa powder since 2017 were: Ghana (up 91.9%), Indonesia (up 66.9%), Turkey (up 61.7%) and Malaysia (up 31.3%).
Two top suppliers that posted declines in their sales of exported unsweetened cocoa powder were Belgium (down -36.9% from 2020) and Italy (down -14.8%).
Sweetened Hot Chocolate Powder Exports
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of sweetened cocoa powder shipped during 2021.
- Mexico: US$40.9 million (12% of exported sweetened cocoa powder)
- Germany: $40.8 million (11.98%)
- South Korea: $33.8 million (9.9%)
- United States: $30.3 million (8.9%)
- Malaysia: $21.9 million (6.4%)
- Thailand: $17.9 million (5.3%)
- Ghana: $13.1 million (3.8%)
- Singapore: $11.2 million (3.3%)
- Italy: $10.9 million (3.2%)
- Belgium: $10.6 million (3.1%)
- Ireland: $9.6 million (2.8%)
- United Kingdom: $8.3 million (2.4%)
- South Africa: $7.1 million (2.1%)
- France: $6.4 million (1.9%)
- Spain: $6.1 million (1.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 79.0% of global sweetened cocoa powder exports in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing exporters of sweetened cocoa powder since 2017 were: Ghana (up 672.2%), Belgium (up 101.7%), Spain (up 24.8%) and South Africa (up 20%).
Those countries that posted declines in their sales of exported sweetened cocoa powder were led by: Ireland (down -65% from 2017), United Kingdom (down -54.3%), Italy (down -23.4%), Germany (down -18.2%) and Malaysia (down -13.4%).
Hot Chocolate Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of hot chocolate-trading exporters that deal in hot chocolate or related products.
- Abundex International (Singapore)
- Food Basics (Netherlands)
- Franzese USA Inc (United States)
- NBC Food Industries (Malaysia)
- Royal Natural Cocoa Powder (Ghana)
- Veneta Granulati (Italy)
- Veruver GmbH (Germany)
- Xporia Najahindo (Indonesia)
The home-country location for each business is shown above within parentheses.
See also Coffee Exports by Country, Tea Exports by Country, Chocolate Exporters by Country and Sugar Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on November 10, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 10, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 10, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 10, 2022
Wikipedia, Hot chocolate. Accessed on November 10, 2022
