From 2019 to 2020, the value of globally exported charcoal grew by 7.2%.
Light gray in color, charcoal results from the slow heating of wood or other combustible substances in an oxygen-less environment. This process contrasts with the millions of years involved for coal, a black natural mineral and fossil fuel formed under the earth’s crust under high temperature and intense pressure.
Other differences are that charcoal produces more heat and is a cleaner fuel than coal. In addition to generating energy and producing heat for cooking, black powder from charcoal is used in creating purification filters as well as producing fireworks.
The 5 biggest exporters of wood charcoal are Indonesia, China, Poland, Ukraine and Vietnam. Combined, that quintet of leading charcoal exporters sold over half (52.4%) of globally exported wood charcoal in 2020.
Among continents, suppliers in Asia exported the highest dollar worth of charcoal during 2020 with shipments valued at $698 million or more than half (52.3%) of the global total. In second place were European exporters at 28.4% while another 8.4% of worldwide charcoal shipments originated from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Smaller percentages came from Africa (6.3%), North America (4.5%) and Oceania (0.02%) mainly Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 4402 for wood charcoal.
Top Charcoal Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of charcoal during 2020.
- Indonesia: US$272.2 million (20.4% of total charcoal exports)
- China: $181 million (13.6%)
- Poland: $113.2 million (8.5%)
- Ukraine: $69.1 million (5.2%)
- Vietnam: $63.8 million (4.8%)
- Namibia: $50.3 million (3.8%)
- Philippines: $47.9 million (3.6%)
- Cuba: $40.7 million (3.1%)
- Laos: $40.6 million (3%)
- Mexico: $38.2 million (2.9%)
- Paraguay: $34.7 million (2.6%)
- India: $32.6 million (2.4%)
- Germany: $32.1 million (2.4%)
- Belgium: $32 million (2.4%)
- Malaysia: $25.4 million (1.9%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 80.5% of global charcoal exported in 2020.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing charcoal exporters since 2019 were: Laos (up 779.8%), Poland (up 35.1%), Germany (up 33.3%) and Belgium (up 24.6%).
Five countries posted declines in their exported charcoal sales namely: Malaysia (down -11.9%), Cuba (down -6.2%), Vietnam (down -5.5%), Paraguay (down -2.9%) and Indonesia (down -2.8%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for charcoal 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 exported charcoal and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: US$271.5 million (net export surplus down -2.8% since 2019)
- China: $110.3 million (up 62.3%)
- Ukraine: $66.7 million (up 4.3%)
- Poland: $66.7 million (up 83.7%)
- Vietnam: $58.5 million (down -7.1%)
- Namibia: $50.2 million (up 9.7%)
- Philippines: $47.4 million (up 8.1%)
- Cuba: $40.7 million (down -6.2%)
- Laos: $39 million (up 745.5%)
- Mexico: $36.8 million (up 13.9%)
- Paraguay: $34.5 million (down -0.9%)
- India: $26.8 million (up 15.7%)
- Argentina: $16.7 million (up 1.3%)
- Malaysia: $15.3 million (down -3.4%)
- South Africa: $11.4 million (up 175.6%)
Indonesia generated the highest surplus in the international trade of charcoal. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Indonesian competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for charcoal 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 imported charcoal purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$106 million (net export deficit down -15.5% since 2019)
- South Korea: -$93.9 million (down -17.1%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$82 million (down -2.1%)
- United States: -$80.5 million (up 49.6%)
- Germany: -$68.9 million (down -26.1%)
- France: -$61.9 million (up 18%)
- United Kingdom: -$60.4 million (up 18.1%)
- Iraq: -$37.4 million (up 46.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$34.2 million (up 26.2%)
- Italy: -$29.6 million (up 11.7%)
- Bhutan: -$27.8 million (up 11.8%)
- Norway: -$27.7 million (up 3.6%)
- Jordan: -$26.7 million (up 13.7%)
- Greece: -$25.9 million (down -12.2%)
- Netherlands: -$21.5 million (up 44.2%)
Japan incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of charcoal. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Japan’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for charcoal-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Companies
Charcoal Exporting Companies
The following suppliers are examples of charcoal-trading exporters.
- Basques Hardwood Charcoal (Canada)
- Dolimex SRL (Paraguay)
- HBE Trading (Netherlands)
- Jiangshan Luyi Bamboo Charcoal Co (China)
- Kim Ban Marketing (Malaysia)
- Sumber Jaya (Indonesia)
- UA Wood LLC (Ukraine)
- Vietgo Company Limited (Vietnam)
The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
Searchable List of Charcoal Exporting Countries in 2020
Accounting for 99.99% of globally exported charcoal in 2020, the 100 key suppliers of wood charcoal on international markets are highlighted in the following automated database.
| Rank | Exporter | Charcoal Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Indonesia | $272,200,000 | -2.8% |
| 2. | China | $181,024,000 | +8.5% |
| 3. | Poland | $113,166,000 | +35.1% |
| 4. | Ukraine | $69,113,000 | +4.3% |
| 5. | Vietnam | $63,766,000 | -5.5% |
| 6. | Namibia | $50,276,000 | +9.7% |
| 7. | Philippines | $47,949,000 | +9.2% |
| 8. | Cuba | $40,698,000 | -6.2% |
| 9. | Laos | $40,576,000 | +779.8% |
| 10. | Mexico | $38,165,000 | +13.2% |
| 11. | Paraguay | $34,709,000 | -2.9% |
| 12. | India | $32,550,000 | +14.4% |
| 13. | Germany | $32,088,000 | +33.3% |
| 14. | Belgium | $32,028,000 | +24.6% |
| 15. | Malaysia | $25,398,000 | -11.9% |
| 16. | South Africa | $24,975,000 | +17.9% |
| 17. | Spain | $23,046,000 | +38% |
| 18. | Netherlands | $21,431,000 | -24.2% |
| 19. | United States | $20,639,000 | +16.8% |
| 20. | Argentina | $16,691,000 | +1.2% |
| 21. | Russia | $13,245,000 | -19.8% |
| 22. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $9,587,000 | +18.7% |
| 23. | France | $8,964,000 | +8% |
| 24. | Thailand | $7,641,000 | +9.5% |
| 25. | Portugal | $7,476,000 | +6.2% |
| 26. | Turkey | $7,447,000 | +36.1% |
| 27. | Croatia | $7,300,000 | +12.3% |
| 28. | Brazil | $7,070,000 | +11.9% |
| 29. | Belarus | $7,048,000 | +62.9% |
| 30. | Sri Lanka | $6,665,000 | +22.8% |
| 31. | Colombia | $5,763,000 | +1.5% |
| 32. | Latvia | $5,628,000 | -21.5% |
| 33. | Serbia | $5,574,000 | +6.9% |
| 34. | Venezuela | $5,405,000 | -10.6% |
| 35. | Egypt | $5,084,000 | -10% |
| 36. | Singapore | $3,427,000 | +1.1% |
| 37. | Ireland | $3,191,000 | +72.5% |
| 38. | Japan | $3,164,000 | -1% |
| 39. | Bangladesh | $2,848,000 | +37.7% |
| 40. | Lithuania | $2,409,000 | +12.7% |
| 41. | Romania | $2,303,000 | +36.8% |
| 42. | United Kingdom | $2,138,000 | -15.1% |
| 43. | Denmark | $1,735,000 | +9.1% |
| 44. | Norway | $1,490,000 | +279.1% |
| 45. | Bulgaria | $1,475,000 | +14.3% |
| 46. | Austria | $1,344,000 | -8.9% |
| 47. | Slovakia | $1,344,000 | +44.8% |
| 48. | Sweden | $1,205,000 | +1.7% |
| 49. | Ivory Coast | $1,173,000 | +131.4% |
| 50. | Iran | $1,164,000 | +311.3% |
| 51. | Canada | $1,135,000 | +7.5% |
| 52. | Sudan | $1,107,000 | -49.8% |
| 53. | Hungary | $926,000 | -42.9% |
| 54. | Nigeria | $866,000 | -62.4% |
| 55. | Italy | $737,000 | +20.8% |
| 56. | El Salvador | $673,000 | -37.3% |
| 57. | Slovenia | $660,000 | -33.8% |
| 58. | Greece | $651,000 | +28.9% |
| 59. | Estonia | $583,000 | -45.4% |
| 60. | Nicaragua | $574,000 | +99.3% |
| 61. | Bolivia | $478,000 | +48% |
| 62. | Jordan | $418,000 | -14.9% |
| 63. | South Korea | $396,000 | -17.3% |
| 64. | Taiwan | $376,000 | -70% |
| 65. | Czech Republic | $304,000 | +26.1% |
| 66. | Finland | $265,000 | -35.8% |
| 67. | Guyana | $263,000 | +15.9% |
| 68. | Australia | $233,000 | +55.3% |
| 69. | Ghana | $226,000 | +59.2% |
| 70. | Bhutan | $187,000 | +503.2% |
| 71. | Hong Kong | $166,000 | -39.2% |
| 72. | United Arab Emirates | $155,000 | -98.5% |
| 73. | Angola | $145,000 | +190% |
| 74. | Dominican Republic | $135,000 | -93.9% |
| 75. | Eswatini | $128,000 | -84.7% |
| 76. | Luxembourg | $126,000 | -59.6% |
| 77. | Israel | $121,000 | +384% |
| 78. | Lebanon | $112,000 | +89.8% |
| 79. | Tunisia | $112,000 | -79.7% |
| 80. | Panama | $93,000 | -74.4% |
| 81. | Iraq | $69,000 | -93.4% |
| 82. | Switzerland | $65,000 | +27.5% |
| 83. | Andorra | $58,000 | +87.1% |
| 84. | Myanmar | $51,000 | -77% |
| 85. | Botswana | $47,000 | +2250% |
| 86. | Cambodia | $42,000 | +13.5% |
| 87. | Tanzania | $42,000 | +2000% |
| 88. | Kenya | $39,000 | +178.6% |
| 89. | Moldova | $39,000 | -46.6% |
| 90. | South Sudan | $29,000 | +314.3% |
| 91. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $26,000 | +766.7% |
| 92. | Azerbaijan | $21,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Kyrgyzstan | $20,000 | -39.4% |
| 94. | Kazakhstan | $11,000 | 0% |
| 95. | Montenegro | $11,000 | +450% |
| 96. | Antigua/Barbuda | $11,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Armenia | $11,000 | +120% |
| 98. | Suriname | $10,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Zimbabwe | $10,000 | -98.7% |
| 100. | Honduras | $8,000 | 0% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2019 data was unavailable.
See also Coal Exports by Country, Electricity Exports by Country and Crude Oil Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Product showroom for charcoal. Accessed on September 16, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on September 16, 2021
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 16, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 16, 2021
Patel Vidhu, 6 Differences Between Coal and Charcoal. Accessed on August 28, 2020
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on September 16, 2021
Wikipedia, Charcoal. Accessed on September 16, 2021
