Year over year, the value of exported cookies gained 11.7% compared to $8.46 billion for 2020.
Also called sweet biscuits in some countries, a wide range of cookies are beloved snacks around the globe. In the United States, favorites include chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, white chocolate, sugar and shortbread cookies according to OnePoll.com.
The 5 biggest cookie exporters are Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Canada. Combined, that quintet of major suppliers accounted for 38.5% of the overall value of globally exported cookies during 2021.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar worth of exported cookies during 2021 with shipments valued at $5.4 billion or 56.8% of the worldwide total. In second place were exporters in Asia at 18.8% while another 17% of cookie shipments originated from North America.
Smaller percentages came from Latin America (4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (2.3%), and Oceania (1.1%) led by Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for sweet biscuits is 190531.
Top Cookies Exporters by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of cookies during 2021.
- Mexico: US$940.8 million (10% of total exported cookies)
- Netherlands: $835.6 million (8.8%)
- Germany: $805.8 million (8.5%)
- Belgium: $614.7 million (6.5%)
- Canada: $441.4 million (4.7%)
- France: $394.6 million (4.2%)
- Italy: $381.2 million (4%)
- Poland: $376.7 million (4%)
- United Kingdom: $364.3 million (3.9%)
- Turkey: $359.2 million (3.8%)
- Spain: $333 million (3.5%)
- Indonesia: $302.4 million (3.2%)
- United States: $222.6 million (2.4%)
- Czech Republic: $215.9 million (2.3%)
- India: $200.6 million (2.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 71.8% of global cookies exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cookies exporters since 2020 were: France (up 35.7%), United States of America (up 28.4%), Canada (up 26.6%) and Italy (up 24.6%).
The United Kingdom was the sole top supplier to post a decline in its exported cookies sales, dragged down by a -7.1% drop.
Countries Enjoying Best Trade Surpluses from Cookies
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for cookies during 2021. 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 cookies and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Mexico: US$883.1 million (net export surplus up 19.7% since 2020)
- Netherlands: $470.5 million (up 8%)
- Turkey: $336.9 million (down -0.2%)
- Germany: $282.5 million (up 6.5%)
- Poland: $274.8 million (up 15.2%)
- Belgium: $274 million (up 10.9%)
- Indonesia: $262.2 million (up 4.9%)
- Italy: $193.8 million (up 33.5%)
- India: $190.7 million (up 18.8%)
- Spain: $184.6 million (up 23.1%)
- Canada: $182.3 million (up 48.5%)
- Czech Republic: $154.4 million (up 18.1%)
- Denmark: $123 million (up 13%)
- Iran: $87.9 million (down -18.9%)
- Malaysia: $72.5 million (down -4.2%)
Mexico generated the highest surplus in the international trade of cookies. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Mexican competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Countries Incurring Worst Trade Deficits from Cookies
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for cookies during 2021. 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 cookies purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$1.4 billion (net export deficit up 19.3% since 2020)
- China: -$212.1 million (up 7%)
- Iraq: -$150 million (down -7.8%)
- France: -$134.8 million (down -21.9%)
- Ireland: -$119.4 million (up 1.7%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$118.2 million (down -6.7%)
- Portugal: -$89.9 million (up 13.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$88.8 million (up 38.9%)
- Australia: -$81.5 million (down -19.8%)
- Vietnam: -$77.5 million (up 33.5%)
- Romania: -$77.3 million (up 8%)
- Democratic Republic of Congo: -$67.1 million (up 2,211%)
- Yemen: -$65.7 million (down -14.2%)
- South Korea: -$62.5 million (up 12.9%)
- Chile: -$58.5 million (up 65.1%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of cookies. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for cookies-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Cookies Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of cookies-trading exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Benfel Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Turkey)
- Blue Dots SRO (Czech Republic)
- Dollaritemdirect.com Inc (United States)
- Gusti d’Italia SRL (Italy)
- Jens Schleicher GMBH (Germany)
- LA International Trading Ltd (United Kingdom)
- NV Solucious (Belgium)
- Petitki (Poland)
- Pt. Agel Langgeng (Indonesia)
- RYS Trading Company BV (Netherlands)
Searchable Database of Cookies Exporting Countries in 2021
The following automated database of major international suppliers collected 99.9% of the overall revenues from globally exported sweet biscuits.
| Rank | Exporter | Cookie Exports | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mexico | $940,792,000 | +18.7% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $835,571,000 | +11.8% |
| 3. | Germany | $805,754,000 | +3.9% |
| 4. | Belgium | $614,684,000 | +14% |
| 5. | Canada | $441,420,000 | +26.6% |
| 6. | France | $394,637,000 | +35.7% |
| 7. | Italy | $381,196,000 | +24.6% |
| 8. | Poland | $376,658,000 | +14.1% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $364,345,000 | -7.1% |
| 10. | Turkey | $359,244,000 | +0.4% |
| 11. | Spain | $332,996,000 | +19% |
| 12. | Indonesia | $302,396,000 | +8.6% |
| 13. | United States | $222,639,000 | +28.4% |
| 14. | Czech Republic | $215,908,000 | +12.8% |
| 15. | India | $200,586,000 | +19.3% |
| 16. | Denmark | $184,423,000 | +8.7% |
| 17. | Malaysia | $161,221,000 | +7.9% |
| 18. | Russia | $138,504,000 | +20.2% |
| 19. | Sweden | $137,896,000 | +14.6% |
| 20. | Thailand | $117,777,000 | +21.6% |
| 21. | Hong Kong | $101,503,000 | +82.8% |
| 22. | Austria | $99,427,000 | +10.2% |
| 23. | China | $88,139,000 | +21.5% |
| 24. | Ukraine | $87,936,000 | +11.6% |
| 25. | Iran | $87,858,000 | -18.9% |
| 26. | Serbia | $69,117,000 | +8.4% |
| 27. | Egypt | $68,665,000 | +22.3% |
| 28. | Peru | $68,284,000 | +12.7% |
| 29. | Australia | $62,990,000 | +72.3% |
| 30. | Brazil | $60,107,000 | +24.6% |
| 31. | Zambia | $56,995,000 | +78% |
| 32. | Bahrain | $56,420,000 | -37.6% |
| 33. | Saudi Arabia | $50,712,000 | -6.2% |
| 34. | Costa Rica | $48,670,000 | +4% |
| 35. | Guatemala | $47,216,000 | +25.4% |
| 36. | Singapore | $46,558,000 | +13.9% |
| 37. | South Africa | $43,939,000 | +13% |
| 38. | Switzerland | $36,475,000 | +11.2% |
| 39. | Portugal | $33,797,000 | -4.5% |
| 40. | New Zealand | $32,686,000 | +20.9% |
| 41. | Colombia | $29,928,000 | +0.7% |
| 42. | Argentina | $29,648,000 | +18.9% |
| 43. | Bulgaria | $29,388,000 | +46.2% |
| 44. | Croatia | $29,227,000 | +17.3% |
| 45. | Dominican Republic | $24,371,000 | -20.2% |
| 46. | Romania | $23,694,000 | +31.4% |
| 47. | Pakistan | $23,059,000 | +22.3% |
| 48. | Taiwan | $22,866,000 | -24.9% |
| 49. | Tunisia | $21,011,000 | +10.3% |
| 50. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $20,629,000 | +22.7% |
| 51. | Hungary | $20,404,000 | +5.3% |
| 52. | El Salvador | $19,777,000 | +7.7% |
| 53. | Lithuania | $19,203,000 | -38% |
| 54. | United Arab Emirates | $18,885,000 | -75% |
| 55. | Greece | $18,811,000 | +2.8% |
| 56. | Kazakhstan | $17,855,000 | -6.3% |
| 57. | Sri Lanka | $17,164,000 | +20.1% |
| 58. | South Korea | $16,321,000 | +24% |
| 59. | Trinidad/Tobago | $16,122,000 | +9.9% |
| 60. | Latvia | $15,646,000 | -7.8% |
| 61. | Vietnam | $15,584,000 | -4.1% |
| 62. | Slovakia | $15,221,000 | +9.6% |
| 63. | Ireland | $14,387,000 | +16.1% |
| 64. | Japan | $14,296,000 | +42.7% |
| 65. | North Macedonia | $12,999,000 | +5.7% |
| 66. | Bangladesh | $11,976,000 | +10.6% |
| 67. | Moldova | $11,095,000 | +7.5% |
| 68. | Slovenia | $11,017,000 | +40.8% |
| 69. | Fiji | $10,483,000 | +6.1% |
| 70. | Barbados | $10,173,000 | +12% |
| 71. | Oman | $9,401,000 | -75.2% |
| 72. | Belarus | $9,030,000 | +40.8% |
| 73. | Philippines | $8,186,000 | +48.4% |
| 74. | Ecuador | $8,035,000 | +196.7% |
| 75. | Zimbabwe | $6,151,000 | +24.4% |
| 76. | Syria | $6,007,000 | +28.8% |
| 77. | Uzbekistan | $5,542,000 | +32.9% |
| 78. | Morocco | $5,087,000 | +13.9% |
| 79. | Senegal | $4,576,000 | -14.1% |
| 80. | Finland | $4,168,000 | -4.5% |
| 81. | Luxembourg | $4,121,000 | +32% |
| 82. | Jordan | $3,895,000 | -43.4% |
| 83. | Honduras | $3,803,000 | -16% |
| 84. | Chile | $3,774,000 | +3.2% |
| 85. | Lebanon | $3,731,000 | -12.8% |
| 86. | Israel | $2,675,000 | -21.6% |
| 87. | Ghana | $2,448,000 | +42.2% |
| 88. | Bolivia | $1,982,000 | +11.4% |
| 89. | Estonia | $1,890,000 | +57.4% |
| 90. | Kenya | $1,836,000 | +11.6% |
| 91. | Cameroon | $1,725,000 | +74.6% |
| 92. | Algeria | $1,541,000 | +68.8% |
| 93. | Lesotho | $1,396,000 | -11.3% |
| 94. | Venezuela | $1,246,000 | +9.6% |
| 95. | Jamaica | $1,232,000 | -54.5% |
| 96. | Cyprus | $1,116,000 | +1183% |
| 97. | Uganda | $983,000 | -87.9% |
| 98. | Tanzania | $840,000 | +73.6% |
| 99. | Kuwait | $825,000 | -65.1% |
| 100. | Nigeria | $757,000 | -26.2% |
Focusing on the leading 100 cookie suppliers, the fastest growers from 2020 to 2021 were Cyprus (up 1,183%), Ecuador (up 196.7%), Hong Kong (up 82.6%), Zambia (up 78%), then Cameroon (up 74.6%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2020 data was unavailable.
See also Chocolate Exporters by Country, Candy Sweets Exports by Country , Soft Drinks Exporters by Country and Ice Cream Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Product showroom for cookies. Accessed on September 6, 2022
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook. Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on September 6, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 6, 2022
Huffington Post, The Definitive List of America’s Favorite Cookies. Accessed on September 6, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 6, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 6, 2022
Wikipedia, Cookie. Accessed on September 6, 2022
