Year over year, the value of globally exported sugar increased by 11.7% from 2019 to 2020.
The 5 biggest exporters of sugar are Brazil, India, Thailand, France and Germany collectively responsible for almost two-thirds (64%) of globally exported sugar.
Among continents, Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean sold the highest dollar value worth of sugar exports during 2020 with shipments amounting to $10.9 billion or 47.7% of worldwide sugar shipments. Countries in Asia were responsible for 23.3% trailed by European suppliers at 18.4%
Smaller percentages came from Africa (7.3%), North America (2.8%) and Oceania (0.5%) led by Australia and Fiji.
Technically, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 1701 for cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form.
Sugar Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of sugar during 2020.
- Brazil: US$8.7 billion (38.2% of total sugar exports)
- India: $2.5 billion (10.9%)
- Thailand: $1.8 billion (7.7%)
- France: $1 billion (4.4%)
- Germany: $633.7 million (2.8%)
- Guatemala: $579.8 million (2.5%)
- Mexico: $478.1 million (2.1%)
- Russia: $461.5 million (2%)
- South Africa: $369.7 million (1.6%)
- Colombia: $365.2 million (1.6%)
- Netherlands: $346.9 million (1.5%)
- Eswatini: $343.8 million (1.5%)
- Belgium: $309.4 million (1.4%)
- Morocco: $286.3 million (1.3%)
- Poland: $269.4 million (1.2%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 80.7% of global sugar exports in 2020 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing sugar exporters from 2019 to 2020 were: Russia (up 73.4%), Brazil (up 66.7%), India (up 45.7%) and Morocco (up 42.2%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported sugar sales were led by: Thailand (down -41%), Mexico (down -28.6%), South Africa (down -24.9%), Eswatini (down -18.5%) and Guatemala (down -16.5%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for sugar 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 sugar exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Brazil: US$8.7 billion (net export surplus up 66.7% since 2019)
- India: $1.9 billion (up 31.7%)
- Thailand: $1.7 billion (down -42.2%)
- France: $790.3 million (up 5.4%)
- Guatemala: $576.2 million (down -16.9%)
- Mexico: $424.3 million (down -33.1%)
- Russian Federation: $390.6 million (up 134.6%)
- Eswatini: $343.4 million (down -18.5%)
- Germany: $276.3 million (down -12.3%)
- Colombia: $244.8 million (up 15.3%)
- Cuba: $226.1 million (down -3.7%)
- El Salvador: $215.8 million (up 11.6%)
- Netherlands: $191.6 million (up 31.4%)
- Poland: $179.6 million (down -0.1%)
- Mauritius: $144.7 million (down -7.6%)
Brazil maintains the highest surplus in the international trade of sugar. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Brazil’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for sugar 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 sugar import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$2 billion (net export deficit up 26.4% since 2019)
- Indonesia: -$1.9 billion (up 40.3%)
- China: -$1.7 billion (up 67.3%)
- Italy: -$740.9 million (up 9.9%)
- Bangladesh: -$725.3 million (up 13.2%)
- Nigeria: -$703.2 million (up 51.8%)
- Malaysia: -$655.7 million (up 11.7%)
- Algeria: -$591.2 million (up 28%)
- Vietnam: -$548.5 million (up 425.1%)
- South Korea: -$507.6 million (down -0.4%)
- Spain: -$480.1 million (down -23.8%)
- Sudan: -$404.2 million (down -19.8%)
- Japan: -$396.2 million (down -5.9%)
- Iran: -$395 million (down -11.4%)
- Canada: -$382.7 million (up 0.7%)
Highly populated America, Indonesia and China racked up the biggest deficits in the international trade of sugar. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights their strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for sugar-supplying countries that help satisfy the demand from consumers and businesses.
Companies
Sugar Exporting Companies
Below are the world’s biggest sugar exporting companies. Shown within parenthesis is the country where the conglomerate is headquartered.
- Copersucar (Brazil)
- Cosan (Brazil)
- Mitr Phol Group (Thailand)
- Thai Roong Ruang Sugar Group (Thailand)
- Tereos S.A. (France)
- EID Parry Limited (India)
- Südzucker AG (Germany)
- Nordzucker Group (Germany)
- British Sugar Plc (United Kingdom)
- Louis Dreyfus Group (Netherlands)
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are also engaged in the sugar industry.
- Jalles Machad (Brazil)
- Azucarera Paraguay (Paraguay)
- Liga Agricola Industrial De La (Costa Rica)
Searchable List of Sugar Exporting Countries in 2020
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2016 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Sugar Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brazil | $8,744,188,000 | +66.7% |
| 2. | India | $2,494,646,000 | +45.7% |
| 3. | Thailand | $1,753,590,000 | -41% |
| 4. | France | $1,016,891,000 | +5.9% |
| 5. | Germany | $633,726,000 | +2.1% |
| 6. | Guatemala | $579,804,000 | -16.5% |
| 7. | Mexico | $478,105,000 | -28.6% |
| 8. | Russia | $461,484,000 | +73.4% |
| 9. | South Africa | $369,663,000 | -24.9% |
| 10. | Colombia | $365,163,000 | +14% |
| 11. | Netherlands | $346,910,000 | +16% |
| 12. | Eswatini | $343,761,000 | -18.5% |
| 13. | Belgium | $309,441,000 | -11% |
| 14. | Morocco | $286,280,000 | +42.2% |
| 15. | Poland | $269,353,000 | +0.3% |
| 16. | Cuba | $226,249,000 | -3.7% |
| 17. | El Salvador | $215,938,000 | +11.6% |
| 18. | United Arab Emirates | $174,933,000 | +8.9% |
| 19. | United Kingdom | $171,849,000 | +0.6% |
| 20. | Saudi Arabia | $163,828,000 | -0.7% |
| 21. | Mauritius | $163,593,000 | -14.6% |
| 22. | Czech Republic | $139,198,000 | +4.7% |
| 23. | Nicaragua | $138,470,000 | -20.2% |
| 24. | South Korea | $138,443,000 | +15.2% |
| 25. | Belarus | $137,948,000 | +25.5% |
| 26. | Portugal | $123,918,000 | +33.6% |
| 27. | Egypt | $120,321,000 | +8.8% |
| 28. | Dominican Republic | $117,925,000 | +28.2% |
| 29. | Malaysia | $107,908,000 | +150.9% |
| 30. | Denmark | $94,585,000 | +16.7% |
| 31. | United States | $93,320,000 | +22.2% |
| 32. | Myanmar | $92,955,000 | -17.2% |
| 33. | Argentina | $88,364,000 | -11.6% |
| 34. | Zambia | $86,361,000 | -25.7% |
| 35. | Algeria | $78,909,000 | -57.2% |
| 36. | Costa Rica | $78,851,000 | +5% |
| 37. | Zimbabwe | $75,522,000 | +24.3% |
| 38. | China | $72,099,000 | -17.5% |
| 39. | Uganda | $71,578,000 | -10.3% |
| 40. | Peru | $68,263,000 | -23.4% |
| 41. | Philippines | $63,157,000 | +14.3% |
| 42. | Fiji | $62,556,000 | +38.2% |
| 43. | Ukraine | $59,337,000 | -30.3% |
| 44. | Canada | $57,951,000 | +76.1% |
| 45. | Paraguay | $56,577,000 | +17.3% |
| 46. | Belize | $54,570,000 | -20% |
| 47. | Lithuania | $53,664,000 | +10% |
| 48. | Bolivia | $49,378,000 | +25.4% |
| 49. | Serbia | $46,901,000 | +2.7% |
| 50. | Laos | $46,727,000 | -62.1% |
| 51. | Cambodia | $46,044,000 | -15.6% |
| 52. | Austria | $45,358,000 | +43.8% |
| 53. | Honduras | $44,742,000 | -33.3% |
| 54. | Spain | $43,540,000 | -21.7% |
| 55. | Croatia | $42,037,000 | -29.9% |
| 56. | Australia | $41,687,000 | -22.9% |
| 57. | Singapore | $36,788,000 | +26.7% |
| 58. | Malawi | $36,031,000 | -57.8% |
| 59. | Mozambique | $35,986,000 | -57.4% |
| 60. | Sweden | $35,398,000 | +22.4% |
| 61. | Slovakia | $33,475,000 | -31.5% |
| 62. | Azerbaijan | $26,904,000 | +0.1% |
| 63. | Slovenia | $25,850,000 | +18.6% |
| 64. | Romania | $25,705,000 | +27.9% |
| 65. | Hungary | $25,049,000 | +36.3% |
| 66. | Guyana | $24,037,000 | +74.5% |
| 67. | Italy | $23,793,000 | +2% |
| 68. | Panama | $23,676,000 | -6.5% |
| 69. | Turkey | $23,577,000 | -0.8% |
| 70. | Indonesia | $23,571,000 | +694.7% |
| 71. | Ecuador | $23,464,000 | -18.9% |
| 72. | Taiwan | $21,765,000 | -70% |
| 73. | Bulgaria | $16,585,000 | +30.1% |
| 74. | New Zealand | $14,491,000 | +30.2% |
| 75. | Kazakhstan | $12,930,000 | +253.9% |
| 76. | Greece | $7,398,000 | -27.9% |
| 77. | Hong Kong | $6,923,000 | -27.6% |
| 78. | Jamaica | $6,600,000 | -37.4% |
| 79. | Finland | $6,169,000 | -0.7% |
| 80. | Madagascar | $5,807,000 | -9.2% |
| 81. | Ireland | $5,276,000 | -47.6% |
| 82. | Vietnam | $4,616,000 | -38.9% |
| 83. | Moldova | $3,994,000 | +32.8% |
| 84. | Japan | $3,888,000 | +18.1% |
| 85. | Switzerland | $3,069,000 | +17.3% |
| 86. | Latvia | $2,434,000 | -10.3% |
| 87. | Uruguay | $2,201,000 | +173.4% |
| 88. | Georgia | $2,160,000 | +19,536% |
| 89. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $1,753,000 | -29.2% |
| 90. | Pakistan | $1,562,000 | -99.3% |
| 91. | Senegal | $1,470,000 | +23.8% |
| 92. | Israel | $929,000 | +31.8% |
| 93. | Angola | $889,000 | -92% |
| 94. | Sri Lanka | $858,000 | -4.5% |
| 95. | French Polynesia | $771,000 | +57.3% |
| 96. | Trinidad/Tobago | $645,000 | -27% |
| 97. | Estonia | $547,000 | no change |
| 98. | North Macedonia | $511,000 | +34.1% |
| 99. | Barbados | $464,000 | +51.6% |
| 100. | Luxembourg | $464,000 | -27% |
See also Sugar Imports by Country, Brazil’s Top 10 Exports and Top Soft Drinks Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Bloomberg Business, Suedzucker Leads the Top 10 Sugar-Producing Companies (November 2011). Accessed on June 3, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on June 3, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 3, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 3, 2021
Wikipedia, Sugar Companies. Accessed on June 3, 2021
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on June 3, 2021
