Overall, the cost of paper imports increased by an average 12% for all importing countries since 2017 when international purchases of paper were valued at $164.5 billion.
Year over year, globally imported purchases of paper accelerated by 16.2% compared to $158.6 billion during 2020.
The biggest buyers of imported paper on international markets are the United States of America, Germany, France, mainland China, and the United Kingdom. Collectively, those countries accounted for almost a third (31.2%) of imported paper purchased in 2021.
Paper is produced by pressing together moist cellulose pulp fibers derived from wood, grasses or rags, which is then dried into flexible sheets. There are many different types of paper and a myriad of uses encompassing currency, wrapping materials, containers, books, newspapers, magazines, note papers, toilet paper, paper towels, clothing plus many more varieties.
From a continental perspective, buyers in European countries spent the most on imported paper during 2021 with purchases costing $89.6 billion or 48.6% of the global total. In second place were Asian importers at 24.5% while another 16.3% of paper imported worldwide was delivered to customers in North America.
Smaller percentages arrived in Latin America (4.8%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (4.2%), then Oceania (1.7%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 48 for paper.
Paper Imports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of paper during 2021.
- United States: US$17.8 billion (9.6% of total imported paper)
- Germany: $14.6 billion (7.9%)
- France: $9.3 billion (5%)
- China: $8.8 billion (4.8%)
- United Kingdom: $7 billion (3.8%)
- Netherlands: $6.4 billion (3.5%)
- Poland: $6.24 billion (3.4%)
- Mexico: $6.22 billion (3.4%)
- Italy: $6.14 billion (3.3%)
- Canada: $6 billion (3.2%)
- Belgium: $5.5 billion (3%)
- Spain: $4.4 billion (2.4%)
- Vietnam: $3.7 billion (2%)
- Japan: $3 billion (1.6%)
- Turkey: $2.7 billion (1.5%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for paper since 2020 were: Vietnam (up 51.4%), Poland (up 26%), Netherlands (up 23.8%) and Italy (up 23%).
The United Kingdom posted the most modest increase in imported paper purchases via a 1.5% gain year over year.
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased 58.4% of globally imported paper in 2021.
Paper Imported into the United States
America’s global purchases of imported paper totaled US$17.8 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the US imported the highest dollar value worth of paper during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2020 to 2021.
- Canada: US$6.1 billion (up 11.9% from 2020)
- China: $3 billion (up 15.6%)
- Mexico: $1.3 billion (down -1.8%)
- Germany: $1 billion (up 23.7%)
- Finland: $915.9 million (up 25.9%)
- Vietnam: $495 million (up 13.7%)
- South Korea: $484.6 million (down -2.7%)
- Sweden: $392.5 million (up 9.4%)
- Italy: $348 million (up 44.3%)
- France: $308.7 million (up 28.9%)
- United Kingdom: $302.1 million (up 5%)
- Indonesia: $294.4 million (down -15.6%)
- India: $285.7 million (up 56.5%)
- Japan: $251.6 million (up 11.2%)
- Taiwan: $244.7 million (up 9.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 89% of paper imported by the United States of America in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of paper to America since 2020 were: India (up 56.5%), Italy (up 44.3%), France (up 28.9%) and Finland (up 25.9%).
A trio of top exporters experienced declines in the value of their paper supplied to American importers namely Indonesia (down -15.6%), South Korea (down -2.7%) and Mexico (down -1.8%).
Overall, the value of America’s imported paper rose by an average 13.4% from all supplying countries since 2020 when paper purchased cost $15.7 billion.
Paper Imported into Germany
Germany’s global purchases of imported paper totaled US$14.6 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Germany imported the highest dollar value worth of paper during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2020 to 2021.
- Sweden: US$1.8 billion (up 7.6% from 2020)
- Poland: $1.66 billion (up 18.9%)
- Finland: $1.59 billion (up 12.2%)
- Austria: $1.59 billion (up 15.5%)
- France: $1.3 billion (up 22.3%)
- Netherlands: $1.1 billion (up 19.4%)
- Italy: $1.1 billion (up 14.5%)
- Switzerland: $603.1 million (up 16.4%)
- China: $580 million (up 26.6%)
- Czech Republic: $456.6 million (up 4.8%)
- Belgium: $420.9 million (up 14%)
- Spain: $255 million (up 19.6%)
- United Kingdom: $241.7 million (down -24.5%)
- United States: $231.8 million (up 15%)
- Portugal: $212.1 million (up 17.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 90.8% of paper imported by Germany in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of paper to Germany since 2020 were: mainland China (up 26.6%), France (up 22.3%), Spain (up 19.6%) and Netherlands (up 19.4%).
The United Kingdom experienced a decline in the value of paper supplied to German importers posting a -24.5% drop year over year.
Overall, the value of Germany’s imported paper increased by an average 14.5% from all supplying countries since 2020 when paper purchased cost $12.7 billion.
Paper Imported into France
France’s global purchases of imported paper totaled US$9.3 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which France imported the highest dollar value worth of paper during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2020 to 2021.
- Germany: US$2.2 billion (up 14% from 2020)
- Italy: $1.3 billion (up 15.3%)
- Spain: $1 billion (up 18.5%)
- Belgium: $712.3 million (up 14.7%)
- Netherlands: $560.2 million (up 20.2%)
- China: $458.7 million (up 33.2%)
- Sweden: $457.6 million (up 9.1%)
- Finland: $375.5 million (up 6%)
- United Kingdom: $305.7 million (up 2.7%)
- Poland: $282.2 million (up 20.7%)
- Austria: $275.8 million (up 20%)
- Portugal: $230.8 million (down -0.6%)
- United States: $125.4 million (down -8.9%)
- Luxembourg: $88.6 million (up 9.6%)
- Turkey: $87.3 million (up 93.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 92% of paper imported by France in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of paper to France since 2020 were: Turkey (up 93.6%), mainland China (up 33.2%), Poland (up 20.7%) and the Netherlands (up 20.2%).
A pair of top exporters experienced declines in the value of their paper supplied to French importers namely the United States of America (down -8.9%) and Portugal (down -0.6%).
Overall, the value of France’s imported paper inflated by an average 14.8% from all supplying countries since 2020 when paper purchased cost $8.1 billion.
Paper Imported into China
Mainland China’s global purchases of imported paper totaled US$8.8 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which China imported the highest dollar value worth of paper during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2020 to 2021.
- Indonesia: US$1.1 billion (up 6.5% from 2020)
- Japan: $874 million (up 24.3%)
- United States: $800.2 million (down -7.5%)
- Sweden: $645.2 million (up 13.9%)
- Russia: $622.3 million (up 68.7%)
- Taiwan: $560 million (up 9.3%)
- South Korea: $509.6 million (up 13.7%)
- Laos: $451.7 million (up 821229.1%)
- India: $436.1 million (up 84.7%)
- Malaysia: $382.1 million (up 248.2%)
- Vietnam: $372 million (down -2.3%)
- Germany: $291.4 million (up 1.2%)
- Canada: $260.9 million (up 56.2%)
- Thailand: $212.5 million (down -3.1%)
- Finland: $134.6 million (up 48.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 86.7% of paper imported by mainland China in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of paper to China since 2020 were: Laos (up 821,229%), Malaysia (up 248.2%), India (up 84.7%) and Russia (up 68.7%).
A trio of leading exporters experienced declines in the value of their paper supplied to Chinese importers namely the United States of America (down -7.5%), Thailand (down -3.1%) and Vietnam (down -2.3%).
Overall, the value of China’s imported paper accelerated by an average 20.3% from all supplying countries since 2020 when paper purchased cost $7.3 billion.
Searchable List of Paper Importers in 2021
The 100 importing nations buying paper in 2021 accounted for 97.8% of all purchases of the commodity.
| Rank | Importer | Paper Imports | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $17,766,303,000 | +13.4% |
| 2. | Germany | $14,555,635,000 | +14.5% |
| 3. | France | $9,300,716,000 | +14.8% |
| 4. | China | $8,828,396,000 | +20.3% |
| 5. | United Kingdom | $7,008,088,000 | +1.5% |
| 6. | Netherlands | $6,376,401,000 | +23.8% |
| 7. | Poland | $6,241,143,000 | +26% |
| 8. | Mexico | $6,215,820,000 | +23% |
| 9. | Italy | $6,137,950,000 | +23% |
| 10. | Canada | $5,980,102,000 | +10.6% |
| 11. | Belgium | $5,490,595,000 | +23% |
| 12. | Spain | $4,388,996,000 | +21.7% |
| 13. | Vietnam | $3,671,072,000 | +51.4% |
| 14. | Japan | $2,957,823,000 | +3.5% |
| 15. | Türkey | $2,741,500,000 | +12.9% |
| 16. | Russia | $2,704,140,000 | +17.2% |
| 17. | Czech Republic | $2,583,376,000 | +23.5% |
| 18. | Austria | $2,525,965,000 | +13.8% |
| 19. | Switzerland | $2,300,845,000 | +13.1% |
| 20. | South Korea | $2,226,203,000 | +16.6% |
| 21. | India | $2,150,984,000 | +16.1% |
| 22. | Australia | $2,117,590,000 | +8.1% |
| 23. | Malaysia | $2,019,431,000 | +19.5% |
| 24. | Thailand | $1,881,322,000 | +13.4% |
| 25. | Taiwan | $1,755,790,000 | +13.6% |
| 26. | Sweden | $1,754,992,000 | +18.5% |
| 27. | Hungary | $1,709,299,000 | +17.9% |
| 28. | Saudi Arabia | $1,602,208,000 | +8.2% |
| 29. | Denmark | $1,600,656,000 | +14.4% |
| 30. | United Arab Emirates | $1,592,992,000 | +24.3% |
| 31. | Singapore | $1,591,661,000 | +6.6% |
| 32. | Indonesia | $1,528,204,000 | +20.8% |
| 33. | Hong Kong | $1,515,443,000 | +12.5% |
| 34. | Portugal | $1,427,670,000 | +27.1% |
| 35. | Romania | $1,415,476,000 | +23.7% |
| 36. | Philippines | $1,342,461,000 | +22.7% |
| 37. | Greece | $1,220,405,000 | +25.3% |
| 38. | Ireland | $1,122,106,000 | +4.7% |
| 39. | Egypt | $1,090,423,000 | -2.6% |
| 40. | Norway | $988,596,000 | +11.2% |
| 41. | South Africa | $958,063,000 | +16.3% |
| 42. | Chile | $952,556,000 | +32.9% |
| 43. | Slovakia | $939,398,000 | +19.3% |
| 44. | Ukraine | $921,490,000 | +13.9% |
| 45. | Morocco | $845,306,000 | +17% |
| 46. | Brazil | $817,739,000 | +18.7% |
| 47. | Guatemala | $812,026,000 | +27.5% |
| 48. | Israel | $811,470,000 | +15.9% |
| 49. | Iran | $804,926,000 | -1% |
| 50. | Bangladesh | $804,351,000 | +34.7% |
| 51. | New Zealand | $799,929,000 | +19.7% |
| 52. | Slovenia | $777,981,000 | +14.8% |
| 53. | Argentina | $749,956,000 | +9.9% |
| 54. | Costa Rica | $732,614,000 | +24.2% |
| 55. | Dominican Republic | $719,932,000 | +38% |
| 56. | Colombia | $708,260,000 | +39.4% |
| 57. | Nigeria | $692,998,000 | +4.1% |
| 58. | Algeria | $689,216,000 | +16.9% |
| 59. | Serbia | $685,617,000 | +23.1% |
| 60. | Bulgaria | $678,632,000 | +26.9% |
| 61. | Finland | $660,994,000 | +12.8% |
| 62. | Lithuania | $646,471,000 | +20.1% |
| 63. | Cambodia | $630,010,000 | +20.5% |
| 64. | Peru | $627,409,000 | +26.3% |
| 65. | Belarus | $611,865,000 | +23.9% |
| 66. | Croatia | $599,786,000 | +22.2% |
| 67. | Pakistan | $536,204,000 | +24.2% |
| 68. | Kazakhstan | $502,983,000 | +10.2% |
| 69. | Luxembourg | $499,744,000 | +6.2% |
| 70. | Sri Lanka | $486,811,000 | +30.1% |
| 71. | Iraq | $484,658,000 | -6.9% |
| 72. | Kenya | $415,828,000 | +29.3% |
| 73. | Latvia | $384,007,000 | +17.1% |
| 74. | El Salvador | $367,201,000 | +41.6% |
| 75. | Ecuador | $313,023,000 | +23.1% |
| 76. | Honduras | $304,034,000 | +28% |
| 77. | Uzbekistan | $300,696,000 | +31.9% |
| 78. | Estonia | $298,171,000 | +15.4% |
| 79. | Tunisia | $290,934,000 | -3.2% |
| 80. | Kuwait | $272,205,000 | -15.2% |
| 81. | Panama | $271,983,000 | -2.8% |
| 82. | Jordan | $259,997,000 | -3.8% |
| 83. | Ghana | $249,629,000 | +20.3% |
| 84. | Ivory Coast | $241,491,000 | +34.8% |
| 85. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $230,951,000 | +20.7% |
| 86. | Nicaragua | $218,583,000 | +29.4% |
| 87. | Paraguay | $214,114,000 | +5.4% |
| 88. | Azerbaijan | $198,283,000 | +19.1% |
| 89. | Libya | $181,465,000 | +0.7% |
| 90. | Myanmar | $158,233,000 | -40% |
| 91. | Uruguay | $155,988,000 | +13.4% |
| 92. | Lebanon | $149,908,000 | +9.7% |
| 93. | Malta | $141,732,000 | +10.6% |
| 94. | Angola | $141,456,000 | +42.4% |
| 95. | Qatar | $141,328,000 | -2.9% |
| 96. | Tanzania | $137,390,000 | +34.5% |
| 97. | Ethiopia | $129,636,000 | +8.6% |
| 98. | Yemen | $128,060,000 | -21.1% |
| 99. | Nepal | $123,251,000 | +32.8% |
| 100. | Zimbabwe | $122,897,000 | +45.4% |
Focusing on these 100 major suppliers, the fastest gainers from 2020 to 2021 were Vietnam (up 51.4%), Zimbabwe (up 45.4%), Angola (up 42.4%), El Salvador (up 41.6%), then Colombia (up 39.4%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2020 data was unavailable.
See also Paper Exports by Country, Top Newsprint Exports by Country, Top Toilet Paper Exporters by Country and Sawn Wood Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on July 1, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 1, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 1, 2021
Wikipedia, Paper. Accessed on July 1, 2021
