Among continents, Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean sold the highest dollar value worth of sugar exports during 2019 with shipments amounting to $7.4 billion or 38.3% of global sugar shipments. Countries in Asia were responsible for 28.4% trailed by European suppliers at 20.1%. Smaller percentages came from Africa (8.7%), North America (3.9%) and Oceania (0.6%) led by Australia and Fiji.
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 2019.
- Brazil: US$5.2 billion (27.1% of total sugar exports)
- Thailand: $3 billion (15.4%)
- India: $1.8 billion (9.1%)
- France: $960.4 million (5%)
- Guatemala: $694.7 million (3.6%)
- Mexico: $653.3 million (3.4%)
- Germany: $619 million (3.2%)
- South Africa: $492.4 million (2.5%)
- Eswatini: $421.8 million (2.2%)
- Belgium: $347.9 million (1.8%)
- Netherlands: $318.6 million (1.6%)
- Colombia: $306.8 million (1.6%)
- Poland: $268.6 million (1.4%)
- Russia: $266.1 million (1.4%)
- Cuba: $223.6 million (1.2%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 80.4% of global sugar exports in 2019 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing sugar exporters since 2015 were: Russia (up 3,503%), South Africa (up 210.5%), India (up 48.6%) and Eswatini (up 37.6%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported sugar sales were led by: Cuba (down -51%), Brazil (down -31.4%), Mexico (down -19%), Guatemala (down -18.3%) and France (down -12.8%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for sugar 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 sugar exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Brazil: US$5.2 billion (net export surplus down -31.4% since 2015)
- Thailand: $3 billion (up 12.8%)
- India: $1.5 billion (up 112.4%)
- France: $749.5 million (down -14.3%)
- Guatemala: $693.3 million (down -18.5%)
- Mexico: $626.7 million (down -13.3%)
- Eswatini: $421.5 million (up 37.8%)
- Germany: $316.1 million (up 643%)
- Colombia: $235.8 million (down -25.1%)
- Cuba: $223.6 million (down -51%)
- El Salvador: $193.4 million (up 0.2%)
- South Africa: $189.2 million (down -267.2%)
- Poland: $179.8 million (up 24.4%)
- Russia: $166.5 million (down -145.8%)
- Mauritius: $157 million (down -15.8%)
Despite its six-year downturn in export sales, Brazil still 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 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 sugar import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$1.6 billion (net export deficit down -7% since 2015)
- China: -$1.03 billion (down -40.1%)
- Indonesia: -$1 billion (down -20%)
- Italy: -$710.2 million (up 7.4%)
- Bangladesh: -$641.6 million (down -21.9%)
- Algeria: -$595.3 million (up 9%)
- Malaysia: -$586.9 million (down -3.5%)
- Spain: -$511.9 million (up 22%)
- South Korea: -$509.5 million (down -5.8%)
- Sudan: -$468.1 million (down -12.6%)
- Nigeria: -$463.2 million (down -20.8%)
- Japan: -$421 million (down -8.6%)
- Iran: -$400.9 million (up 166.2%)
- Canada: -$380 million (up 7.9%)
- Iraq: -$270.9 million (down -35.4%)
Highly populated America, China and Indonesia incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of sugar. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights their strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for sugar-supplying countries that help satisfy the demand from consumers and businesses.
Companies
Sugar Exporting Companies
Below are the world’s biggest sugar exporting companies. Shown within parenthesis is the country where the conglomerate is headquartered.
- Copersucar (Brazil)
- Cosan (Brazil)
- Mitr Phol Group (Thailand)
- Thai Roong Ruang Sugar Group (Thailand)
- Tereos S.A. (France)
- EID Parry Limited (India)
- Südzucker AG (Germany)
- Nordzucker Group (Germany)
- British Sugar Plc (United Kingdom)
- Louis Dreyfus Group (Netherlands)
According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are also engaged in the sugar industry.
- Jalles Machad (Brazil)
- Azucarera Paraguay (Paraguay)
- Liga Agricola Industrial De La (Costa Rica)
Searchable List of Sugar Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2015 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Sugar Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brazil | $5,245,545,000 | -19.6% |
| 2. | Thailand | $2,973,111,000 | +14.4% |
| 3. | India | $1,762,460,000 | +89.4% |
| 4. | France | $960,408,000 | -30.4% |
| 5. | Guatemala | $694,687,000 | +9.7% |
| 6. | Mexico | $653,294,000 | -8.4% |
| 7. | Germany | $619,009,000 | -22.8% |
| 8. | South Africa | $492,420,000 | +29.4% |
| 9. | Eswatini | $421,753,000 | +36.3% |
| 10. | Belgium | $347,852,000 | -35.5% |
| 11. | Netherlands | $318,627,000 | -33.8% |
| 12. | Colombia | $306,783,000 | -7.9% |
| 13. | Poland | $268,587,000 | -22.5% |
| 14. | Russia | $266,129,000 | +49.6% |
| 15. | Cuba | $223,642,000 | -5.5% |
| 16. | Morocco | $201,360,000 | +26.9% |
| 17. | El Salvador | $193,453,000 | +8.5% |
| 18. | Mauritius | $191,819,000 | +32.2% |
| 19. | United Kingdom | $170,844,000 | +0.9% |
| 20. | Saudi Arabia | $164,931,000 | +7.6% |
| 21. | Czech Republic | $133,070,000 | -12.1% |
| 22. | South Korea | $120,147,000 | -14.4% |
| 23. | Zambia | $116,252,000 | +10.6% |
| 24. | Nicaragua | $115,951,000 | -30.6% |
| 25. | Argentina | $99,939,000 | +54.3% |
| 26. | Dominican Republic | $97,881,000 | -6.6% |
| 27. | Belarus | $96,775,000 | -47% |
| 28. | Portugal | $93,320,000 | -27.4% |
| 29. | Peru | $89,113,000 | +383% |
| 30. | China | $87,367,000 | -13.2% |
| 31. | Mozambique | $84,556,000 | -52.2% |
| 32. | Ukraine | $82,105,000 | -62.1% |
| 33. | Denmark | $81,133,000 | -12.4% |
| 34. | United States | $76,359,000 | -35.4% |
| 35. | Costa Rica | $75,126,000 | -12.6% |
| 36. | Taiwan | $72,529,000 | -53% |
| 37. | Belize | $68,181,000 | +21% |
| 38. | Croatia | $60,963,000 | -28.3% |
| 39. | Zimbabwe | $60,768,000 | +42.3% |
| 40. | Spain | $57,279,000 | -26.3% |
| 41. | Philippines | $55,260,000 | -2% |
| 42. | Australia | $54,050,000 | -1.6% |
| 43. | Algeria | $50,816,000 | -56.8% |
| 44. | Lithuania | $48,716,000 | -2.1% |
| 45. | Slovakia | $48,694,000 | +10% |
| 46. | Paraguay | $48,243,000 | -19.1% |
| 47. | Serbia | $45,650,000 | +5.8% |
| 48. | Fiji | $45,143,000 | +19.1% |
| 49. | Pakistan | $44,289,000 | -88.6% |
| 50. | Malaysia | $43,012,000 | -12.9% |
| 51. | Honduras | $40,898,000 | -25.8% |
| 52. | Laos | $39,128,000 | -38.4% |
| 53. | Canada | $32,911,000 | -2.4% |
| 54. | Austria | $32,111,000 | -35.7% |
| 55. | Singapore | $29,035,000 | +25% |
| 56. | Ecuador | $28,927,000 | +729.1% |
| 57. | Sweden | $28,873,000 | -33.5% |
| 58. | Guyana | $27,744,000 | -60.2% |
| 59. | Azerbaijan | $26,880,000 | +7.6% |
| 60. | Malawi | $26,490,000 | -30.3% |
| 61. | Panama | $25,259,000 | +3.8% |
| 62. | United Arab Emirates | $22,985,000 | -93.8% |
| 63. | Romania | $20,480,000 | -32.2% |
| 64. | Italy | $18,497,000 | -43.8% |
| 65. | Cambodia | $18,326,000 | -73.7% |
| 66. | Slovenia | $18,326,000 | +11.5% |
| 67. | Hungary | $17,030,000 | -53.6% |
| 68. | Egypt | $16,512,000 | -91.9% |
| 69. | Bulgaria | $12,965,000 | +37.4% |
| 70. | New Zealand | $11,128,000 | -11.3% |
| 71. | Turkey | $10,334,000 | -57.4% |
| 72. | Greece | $10,261,000 | -35.7% |
| 73. | Ireland | $10,205,000 | +11.3% |
| 74. | Jamaica | $10,143,000 | -38.8% |
| 75. | Hong Kong | $9,558,000 | -2.2% |
| 76. | Bolivia | $8,998,000 | -65.7% |
| 77. | Ivory Coast | $7,633,000 | -36.9% |
| 78. | Madagascar | $6,392,000 | -0.9% |
| 79. | Finland | $6,211,000 | -43.6% |
| 80. | Togo | $4,619,000 | +50.9% |
| 81. | Vietnam | $3,889,000 | -86.8% |
| 82. | Kazakhstan | $3,654,000 | -84.7% |
| 83. | Japan | $3,292,000 | +13.2% |
| 84. | Moldova | $3,236,000 | -71% |
| 85. | Latvia | $2,688,000 | +44.6% |
| 86. | Switzerland | $2,617,000 | +12.5% |
| 87. | Indonesia | $2,616,000 | -36.9% |
| 88. | Lebanon | $2,576,000 | -78.6% |
| 89. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $2,475,000 | -2.9% |
| 90. | Tunisia | $1,728,000 | +88.4% |
| 91. | Senegal | $1,187,000 | -86.1% |
| 92. | Chile | $907,000 | -49.2% |
| 93. | Kyrgyzstan | $871,000 | -91.6% |
| 94. | Uruguay | $805,000 | +11,400% |
| 95. | Israel | $705,000 | -8.6% |
| 96. | Sri Lanka | $664,000 | -27% |
| 97. | Luxembourg | $641,000 | -10.1% |
| 98. | Estonia | $612,000 | -19.4% |
| 99. | Trinidad/Tobago | $530,000 | -36.7% |
| 100. | French Polynesia | $490,000 | -34.4% |
| 101. | North Macedonia | $381,000 | +21.3% |
| 102. | Namibia | $343,000 | +25.6% |
| 103. | Burkina Faso | $320,000 | -13.7% |
| 104. | Barbados | $306,000 | +39.1% |
| 105. | Iran | $269,000 | -99.4% |
| 106. | Cyprus | $238,000 | +197.5% |
| 107. | Malta | $228,000 | +11,300% |
| 108. | Nigeria | $177,000 | +353.8% |
| 109. | Norway | $136,000 | +103% |
| 110. | Botswana | $120,000 | +287.1% |
| 111. | Cameroon | $101,000 | +165.8% |
| 112. | Benin | $88,000 | -97.6% |
| 113. | Afghanistan | $85,000 | +8,400% |
| 114. | US Minor Outlying Is | $77,000 | +102.6% |
| 115. | Jordan | $50,000 | -99.3% |
| 116. | Ghana | $44,000 | -59.6% |
| 117. | Papua New Guinea | $41,000 | -34.9% |
| 118. | Armenia | $34,000 | +1,600% |
| 119. | Uganda | $29,000 | -100% |
| 120. | Lesotho | $20,000 | 0% |
| 121. | Bangladesh | $18,000 | -84.7% |
| 122. | Myanmar (Burma) | $12,000 | -100% |
| 123. | Curaçao | $12,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Brunei Darussalam | $11,000 | -52.2% |
| 125. | Angola | $11,000 | -99.8% |
| 126. | Georgia | $11,000 | -95.7% |
| 127. | Albania | $8,000 | 0% |
| 128. | Andorra | $5,000 | 0% |
| 129. | Uzbekistan | $5,000 | 0% |
| 130. | Mauritania | $4,000 | 0% |
| 131. | Sierra Leone | $2,000 | 0% |
| 132. | Tanzania | $2,000 | -99.9% |
| 133. | Suriname | $2,000 | 0% |
| 134. | Saint Lucia | $1,000 | 0% |
| 135. | Montenegro | $1,000 | 0% |
| 136. | Mali | $1,000 | 0% |
| 137. | Kenya | $1,000 | -100% |
| 138. | Bermuda | $1,000 | 0% |
| 139. | Ethiopia | $1,000 | 0% |
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 April 30, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on April 30, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 29, 2019
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Sugar Companies. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Zepol’s company summary highlights by HTS code. Accessed on April 30, 2020
