Overall, the value of pork exports increased by an average 29.9% for all exporting countries since 2015 when pork shipments were valued at $25.4 billion. Year over year, total pork exports appreciated by 15.6% from 2018 to 2019.
From a continental perspective, $22 billion or 66.8% of all pork exports originated from Europe. In second place were North American exporters at 25.7%. Smaller percentages came from Latin America (6.2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Asia (1%), Oceanian countries Australia and New Zealand (0.2%), and Africa (0.1%).
The 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0203 for fresh, chilled or frozen swine meat.
Pork Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2019.
- Spain: US$5.2184 billion (15.8% of total pork exports)
- United States: $5.2176 billion (15.8%)
- Germany: $5 billion (15.3%)
- Denmark: $2.8 billion (8.4%)
- Netherlands: $2.7 billion (8.3%)
- Canada: $2.6 billion (7.9%)
- Belgium: $1.49 billion (4.5%)
- Brazil: $1.47 billion (4.5%)
- France: $1.1 billion (3.4%)
- Poland: $955 million (2.9%)
- Mexico: $650.4 million (2%)
- Chile: $516.1 million (1.6%)
- United Kingdom: $500.1 million (1.5%)
- Ireland: $495.5 million (1.5%)
- Austria: $435.5 million (1.3%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 94.7% of global pork exports in 2019 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing pork exporters since 2015 were: Spain (up 75.1%), United Kingdom (up 65.9%), Mexico (up 64.8%) and the Netherlands (up 51.4%).
None of the leading suppliers posted a decline in its exported pork sales.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for pork 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 pork exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Spain: US$5 billion (net export surplus up 81.3% since 2015)
- United States: $4.1 billion (up 52.5%)
- Germany: $3.2 billion (up 31.9%)
- Denmark: $2.6 billion (up 9.4%)
- Canada: $2.14 billion (up 17.7%)
- Netherlands: $2.06 billion (up 49.1%)
- Brazil: $1.5 billion (up 25.9%)
- Belgium: $1.3 billion (up 10.1%)
- Ireland: $351.1 million (up 17.4%)
- France: $272 million (down -460.2%)
- Chile: $268.6 million (down -11.9%)
- Austria: $62.6 million (up 12.6%)
- Thailand: $25 million (up 455.6%)
- Finland: $14.3 million (reversing a -$13.9 million deficit)
- Paraguay: $8.9 million (up 80.6%)
Spain generated the highest surplus in the international trade of pork. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Spain’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for pork 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 pork import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$4.6 billion (net export deficit up 31.9% since 2015)
- China: -$4.4 billion (up 287.6%)
- Italy: -$2.2 billion (up 16.8%)
- South Korea: -$1.6 billion (up 21.3%)
- Mexico: -$793.6 million (down -5.1%)
- United Kingdom: -$718.6 million (up 13.2%)
- Romania: -$707.2 million (up 140.1%)
- Poland: -$688.3 million (up 18.4%)
- Czech Republic: -$666.1 million (up 36.9%)
- Greece: -$548.7 million (up 27.1%)
- Hong Kong: -$528.9 million (down -6.1%)
- Australia: -$481 million (up 33.7%)
- Slovakia: -$294 million (up 63.1%)
- Bulgaria: -$261.2 million (up 41.2%)
- Singapore: -$228.9 million (down -6.3%)
Highly populated Japan incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of pork. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Japan’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for pork-supplying countries that help satisfy powerful Japanese consumer demand for that specific commodity.
Companies
Top Global Pork Processing Companies
According to the 2015 Meat Atlas report (Der Fleischatlas), the following companies lead in worldwide meat sales including pork.
- JBS SA (Brazil)
- Tyson Food (United States)
- Cargill (Argentina)
- BRF (Brazil)
- Vion Food Group (Netherlands)
- Nippon Meat Packers (Japan)
- Smithfield Foods (United States, America’s largest pork producer)
- Marfrig Alimentos SA (Brazil)
- Danish Crown AmbA (Denmark, world’s biggest pork exporter)
- Hormel Foods (United States)
Searchable List of Pork Exporting Countries
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most column highlights the percentage change in the overall value of globally exported pork from 2018 to 2019. (An entry of 0% in that column means that 2018 data was unavailable.)
| Rank | Exporter | Pork Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Spain | $5,218,423,000 | +29.4% |
| 2. | United States | $5,217,600,000 | +13.4% |
| 3. | Germany | $5,027,616,000 | +13.8% |
| 4. | Denmark | $2,769,332,000 | +6% |
| 5. | Netherlands | $2,720,340,000 | +26.7% |
| 6. | Canada | $2,593,435,000 | +6.8% |
| 7. | Belgium | $1,493,819,000 | +9% |
| 8. | Brazil | $1,471,449,000 | +37.3% |
| 9. | France | $1,127,456,000 | +26.4% |
| 10. | Poland | $954,981,000 | -7.2% |
| 11. | Mexico | $650,428,000 | +21.2% |
| 12. | Chile | $516,068,000 | +14.5% |
| 13. | United Kingdom | $500,060,000 | +28.4% |
| 14. | Ireland | $495,500,000 | -1.2% |
| 15. | Austria | $435,473,000 | +11.4% |
| 16. | Hungary | $386,977,000 | +21% |
| 17. | Italy | $198,264,000 | +2.5% |
| 18. | China | $141,392,000 | -27.6% |
| 19. | Russia | $131,990,000 | +93.8% |
| 20. | Portugal | $103,372,000 | +25.1% |
| 21. | Finland | $83,650,000 | +61.2% |
| 22. | Australia | $80,509,000 | -12.8% |
| 23. | Czech Republic | $71,109,000 | +7.3% |
| 24. | Hong Kong | $63,891,000 | -25.1% |
| 25. | Vietnam | $62,181,000 | +38.6% |
| 26. | Sweden | $51,525,000 | -9.8% |
| 27. | Slovakia | $50,545,000 | +28.4% |
| 28. | Estonia | $34,374,000 | +23.3% |
| 29. | Slovenia | $33,491,000 | +19.7% |
| 30. | Argentina | $28,546,000 | +38.8% |
| 31. | Croatia | $26,385,000 | +5.9% |
| 32. | Thailand | $25,140,000 | +356.1% |
| 33. | South Africa | $24,078,000 | -4.1% |
| 34. | Lithuania | $19,242,000 | +25.8% |
| 35. | Bulgaria | $12,665,000 | +5.4% |
| 36. | Norway | $12,254,000 | +22.3% |
| 37. | Greece | $11,796,000 | +2.3% |
| 38. | Singapore | $11,781,000 | +226.1% |
| 39. | Luxembourg | $11,301,000 | +14.5% |
| 40. | Romania | $9,381,000 | -72.7% |
| 41. | Paraguay | $9,255,000 | -18.7% |
| 42. | Japan | $8,644,000 | +18.9% |
| 43. | Serbia | $8,082,000 | -38.9% |
| 44. | Latvia | $7,874,000 | +11.5% |
| 45. | Malaysia | $4,343,000 | -5.9% |
| 46. | Georgia | $2,967,000 | +8,142% |
| 47. | Belarus | $2,960,000 | -84% |
| 48. | Switzerland | $2,585,000 | -12.6% |
| 49. | India | $1,936,000 | +9.6% |
| 50. | Cyprus | $1,672,000 | +146.2% |
| 51. | Kazakhstan | $1,474,000 | +43.8% |
| 52. | New Zealand | $1,387,000 | +175.2% |
| 53. | Costa Rica | $1,199,000 | +359.4% |
| 54. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $1,069,000 | 0% |
| 55. | Namibia | $853,000 | +3% |
| 56. | Bolivia | $813,000 | 0% |
| 57. | Ukraine | $600,000 | -84.1% |
| 58. | Panama | $429,000 | +5,263% |
| 59. | South Korea | $400,000 | +44.4% |
| 60. | Nepal | $244,000 | 0% |
| 61. | Zimbabwe | $211,000 | +3,417% |
| 62. | Niger | $171,000 | 0% |
| 63. | Zambia | $152,000 | +2,433% |
| 64. | Taiwan | $139,000 | -64.2% |
| 65. | United Arab Emirates | $111,000 | -92.9% |
| 66. | Iran | $100,000 | 0% |
| 67. | Djibouti | $98,000 | 0% |
| 68. | Venezuela | $92,000 | 0% |
| 69. | Dominican Republic | $66,000 | +200% |
| 70. | Tunisia | $62,000 | 0% |
| 71. | Indonesia | $52,000 | +420% |
| 72. | Nicaragua | $46,000 | -82.3% |
| 73. | Turkmenistan | $45,000 | 0% |
| 74. | Montenegro | $43,000 | +514.3% |
| 75. | Honduras | $19,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Bermuda | $19,000 | +26.7% |
| 77. | Antigua/Barbuda | $16,000 | +1,500% |
| 78. | Peru | $16,000 | +33.3% |
| 79. | North Macedonia | $13,000 | +8.3% |
| 80. | Botswana | $13,000 | -89.8% |
| 81. | Sri Lanka | $11,000 | -96.4% |
| 82. | Mozambique | $10,000 | +100% |
| 83. | Curaçao | $10,000 | 0% |
| 84. | Iceland | $3,000 | -92.9% |
| 85. | Somalia | $2,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Eswatini | $1,000 | -98.5% |
| 87. | Morocco | $1,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Senegal | $1,000 | -94.4% |
| 89. | Lesotho | $1,000 | 0% |
| 90. | Malta | $1,000 | -99.2% |
| 91. | Mauritius | $1,000 | 0% |
| 92. | El Salvador | $1,000 | -83.3% |
| 93. | Colombia | $1,000 | -100% |
See also Pork Imports by Country, Big Export Sales for Frozen Shrimps, Top Beef Exporting Countries and Chicken Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on April 29, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 29, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 29, 2020
2015 Meat Atlas, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, Germany, and Friends of the Earth Europe, Brussels, Belgium. Accessed on April 29, 2020
