Overall, the value of natural honey exports rose by an average 11.8% for all exporting countries since 2017 when natural honey shipments were valued at $2.39 billion.
Year over year, globally exported natural honey increased in value by 15.5% from $2.31 billion during 2021.
By value, the 5 biggest exporters of natural honey are New Zealand, mainland China, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. Combined, those 5 top suppliers generated 40.5% of international sales of natural honey for 2021.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar worth of natural honey exported during 2021 with shipments amounting to $1.059 billion or 39.6% of overall international honey sales. That percentage compares with 22.7% from Asian exporters, 17.2% from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean plus another 13.9% from Oceania mostly New Zealand and Australia.
Smaller percentages came natural honey suppliers in North America (5.9%) and Africa (0.6%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for natural honey is 0409.
Natural Honey Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of natural honey during 2021.
- New Zealand: US$327.2 million (12.2% of natural honey exports)
- China: $230.3 million (8.6%)
- Argentina: $214.1 million (8%)
- Brazil: $163.3 million (6.1%)
- Germany: $147.4 million (5.5%)
- Ukraine: $144.9 million (5.4%)
- India: $136.7 million (5.1%)
- Spain: $128.6 million (4.8%)
- Vietnam: $108.5 million (4.1%)
- Hungary: $95.8 million (3.6%)
- Mexico: $93.3 million (3.5%)
- Belgium: $74.5 million (2.8%)
- Poland: $63.3 million (2.4%)
- Romania: $58.9 million (2.2%)
- Bulgaria: $49.1 million (1.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 76.2% of global natural honey exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing natural honey exporters from 2020 to 2021 were: Brazil (up 65.7%), India (up 63.8%), Vietnam (up 53.5%) and Mexico (up 48.4%).
Five top suppliers posted declines in their exported natural honey sales namely mainland China (down -9.4%), Germany (down -1.6%), New Zealand (down -0.5%), Hungary (down -0.2%) and Belgium (also down -0.2%).
Countries Earning Largest Surpluses Trading Honey
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for natural honey during 2021. 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 natural honey exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- New Zealand: US$326.5 million (net export surplus down -0.6% since 2020)
- Argentina: $214.1 million (up 30.5%)
- Brazil: $163.3 million (up 65.7%)
- Ukraine: $144.7 million (up 4.5%)
- India: $134.6 million (up 63.9%)
- China: $134.1 million (down -18.6%)
- Vietnam: $107.5 million (up 53.5%)
- Mexico: $93.3 million (up 48.4%)
- Hungary: $84.1 million (down -12.3%)
- Spain: $45.2 million (down -2.4%)
- Romania: $42.9 million (up 32.3%)
- Uruguay: $36.4 million (up 17.7%)
- Bulgaria: $35.9 million (down -1.4%)
- Turkey: $30.8 million (up 19%)
- Slovakia: $21 million (reversing a -$1.7 million deficit)
World leader New Zealand generated the highest surplus in the international trade of natural honey. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the Oceania island nation’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Facing Worst Deficits Trading Honey
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for natural honey during 2021. 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 natural honey import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$638.1 million (net export deficit up 53.5% since 2020)
- Japan: -$169.4 million (down -2.3%)
- Germany: -$164.4 million (up 26.8%)
- United Kingdom: -$117.5 million (up 23%)
- France: -$86.3 million (down -14.2%)
- Italy: -$71 million (up 28.4%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$61.2 million (down -33.1%)
- Switzerland: -$40 million (up 19.7%)
- Netherlands: -$32.4 million (down -22.5%)
- Indonesia: -$31.3 million (up 21.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$29.9 million (up 12%)
- Poland: -$28 million (up 63.8%)
- Singapore: -$19.3 million (down -4.8%)
- Austria: -$17.6 million (up 32.5%)
- Sweden: -$16.2 million (down -13.8%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of natural honey. In turn, this negative cashflow confirms America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for natural honey-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand from American consumers.
Natural Honey Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following companies are also examples of natural honey-trading companies located in the country shown within parentheses.
- Capilano Honey Ltd (Australia)
- Caprilush International (Mexico)
- Duc Cuong Phat Company Limited (Vietnam)
- Dutch Golld Honey (United States)
- Groeb Farms, Inc (United States)
- Navrang SL (Spain)
- Nuxten Health Ltd (New Zealand)
- Rowse Honey Ltd (United Kingdom)
- Zanchetta Alimentos LTDA (Brazil)
- Zhejiang Jiangshan Bee Enterprise Co, Ltd (China)
In addition, here are 5 other multinational honey suppliers based on searches from global trade intelligence firm Zepol.
- Bee Honey (Vietnam)
- Compania Inversora Platens (Argentina)
- Honeyma (Argentina)
- Miel Mex (Mexico)
- Mieles Del Mayab (Mexico)
Searchable List of Natural Honey Exporting Countries in 2021
The following automated database presents the top 100 natural honey exporters ranked by purchases in descending order.
The fastest-growing sellers among the top 100 natural honey exporters were Armenia (up 2,301% from 2020), Rwanda (up 1,700%), Tajikistan (up 1,067%), Slovakia (up 727.9%), Georgia (up 430.1%) then Tunisia (up 400%).
| Rank | Exporter | Natural Honey Exports (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | New Zealand | $327,153,000 | -0.5% |
| 2. | China | $230,257,000 | -9.4% |
| 3. | Argentina | $214,078,000 | +30.5% |
| 4. | Brazil | $163,341,000 | +65.7% |
| 5. | Germany | $147,403,000 | -1.6% |
| 6. | Ukraine | $144,858,000 | +4.4% |
| 7. | India | $136,655,000 | +63.8% |
| 8. | Spain | $128,644,000 | +14.4% |
| 9. | Vietnam | $108,463,000 | +53.5% |
| 10. | Hungary | $95,764,000 | -0.2% |
| 11. | Mexico | $93,294,000 | +48.4% |
| 12. | Belgium | $74,504,000 | -0.2% |
| 13. | Poland | $63,323,000 | +2.3% |
| 14. | Romania | $58,880,000 | +20.2% |
| 15. | Bulgaria | $49,144,000 | +23.3% |
| 16. | Australia | $45,000,000 | +5.9% |
| 17. | Canada | $36,511,000 | +1.8% |
| 18. | Uruguay | $36,509,000 | +17.4% |
| 19. | France | $34,549,000 | +20.6% |
| 20. | Netherlands | $32,585,000 | +124.9% |
| 21. | Italy | $31,730,000 | +23.7% |
| 22. | Turkey | $31,148,000 | +19.1% |
| 23. | Greece | $30,515,000 | +41.2% |
| 24. | Slovakia | $29,962,000 | +727.9% |
| 25. | United States | $28,493,000 | +11% |
| 26. | Saudi Arabia | $25,046,000 | +84.8% |
| 27. | Thailand | $22,120,000 | +23.1% |
| 28. | Cuba | $19,911,000 | +24.8% |
| 29. | Portugal | $18,659,000 | +36.8% |
| 30. | Denmark | $17,917,000 | +12.8% |
| 31. | United Kingdom | $17,011,000 | -34% |
| 32. | Serbia | $15,570,000 | +4.2% |
| 33. | Chile | $13,794,000 | +133% |
| 34. | Moldova | $13,172,000 | +50.2% |
| 35. | Austria | $11,266,000 | -5% |
| 36. | Lithuania | $10,551,000 | +20% |
| 37. | Yemen | $8,346,000 | -51.4% |
| 38. | Pakistan | $8,327,000 | -15.1% |
| 39. | Egypt | $7,341,000 | +4.4% |
| 40. | Czech Republic | $6,743,000 | +6.5% |
| 41. | Russia | $6,608,000 | +31.3% |
| 42. | Singapore | $5,431,000 | +88.6% |
| 43. | United Arab Emirates | $5,262,000 | -27.5% |
| 44. | Hong Kong | $4,883,000 | +151.8% |
| 45. | Guatemala | $4,337,000 | +15.6% |
| 46. | Myanmar | $4,239,000 | +34.8% |
| 47. | El Salvador | $3,729,000 | +75% |
| 48. | Switzerland | $3,359,000 | -15.3% |
| 49. | Armenia | $3,289,000 | +2301% |
| 50. | South Africa | $3,288,000 | +22% |
| 51. | Zambia | $3,062,000 | +28.4% |
| 52. | Slovenia | $3,050,000 | +61.2% |
| 53. | Sweden | $2,958,000 | +0.4% |
| 54. | Taiwan | $2,908,000 | +25.2% |
| 55. | Nicaragua | $2,847,000 | +65.8% |
| 56. | Croatia | $2,673,000 | +68.6% |
| 57. | Ireland | $2,502,000 | -50.2% |
| 58. | Latvia | $2,125,000 | +91.3% |
| 59. | Kyrgyzstan | $1,699,000 | -2.4% |
| 60. | Norway | $1,488,000 | +8.1% |
| 61. | Tanzania | $1,283,000 | +152.1% |
| 62. | Malaysia | $1,231,000 | -11% |
| 63. | Indonesia | $1,180,000 | +155.4% |
| 64. | Oman | $1,093,000 | -38% |
| 65. | Dominican Republic | $1,044,000 | -3.8% |
| 66. | Georgia | $652,000 | +430.1% |
| 67. | Kenya | $649,000 | +30.8% |
| 68. | Kuwait | $618,000 | -26.5% |
| 69. | Belarus | $549,000 | +19.3% |
| 70. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $536,000 | -54.7% |
| 71. | Japan | $497,000 | +30.1% |
| 72. | Iran | $459,000 | -95.1% |
| 73. | Bangladesh | $433,000 | +13.9% |
| 74. | Kazakhstan | $371,000 | -19% |
| 75. | Costa Rica | $336,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Estonia | $321,000 | -50.6% |
| 77. | Sudan | $244,000 | -5.4% |
| 78. | Israel | $235,000 | +18.1% |
| 79. | Madagascar | $227,000 | -0.9% |
| 80. | Lebanon | $174,000 | -80.4% |
| 81. | Ethiopia | $174,000 | -53.4% |
| 82. | Antigua/Barbuda | $163,000 | 0% |
| 83. | Bahrain | $157,000 | +45.4% |
| 84. | Morocco | $147,000 | -38.5% |
| 85. | North Macedonia | $143,000 | -77.9% |
| 86. | Tajikistan | $140,000 | +1067% |
| 87. | Luxembourg | $106,000 | +10.4% |
| 88. | Nepal | $101,000 | +77.2% |
| 89. | Jordan | $100,000 | -85.4% |
| 90. | Cyprus | $97,000 | +142.5% |
| 91. | Finland | $90,000 | +30.4% |
| 92. | South Korea | $83,000 | -3.5% |
| 93. | Uzbekistan | $61,000 | -38.4% |
| 94. | Syria | $56,000 | -48.6% |
| 95. | Sri Lanka | $55,000 | -91.8% |
| 96. | Tunisia | $45,000 | +400% |
| 97. | Mali | $40,000 | +33.3% |
| 98. | Rwanda | $36,000 | +1700% |
| 99. | Benin | $35,000 | -42.6% |
| 100. | Macao | $30,000 | 0% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icons at the top of the above table’s columns. The right-most column highlights the percentage change in the value of exported natural honey from 2020 to 2021. (An entry of 0% in that column means no 2020 data is available.)
See also Natural Honey Imports by Country, Bananas Exports by Country, Sugar Exports by Country and Candy Sweets Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier information for natural honey. Accessed on July 8, 2022
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 8, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 8, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 8, 2022
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on July 8, 2022
