Remarkable for its sharp and pungent taste resembling horse radish or minced onions combined with chives, garlic is a popular seasoning ingredient. Raw or cooked garlic cloves are also used for medicinal purposes in many cultures.
From a continental perspective, Asian countries sold almost three-quarters (72.6%) of the world’s exported garlic during 2019 with shipments valued at $2 billion. In second place were European exporters at 19% while 6.1% of global garlic shipments originated from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Smaller percentages came from North America (1.1%), Africa (also 1.1%) then Oceania’s (0.03%) Australia and New Zealand only.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for garlic is 070320.
Top Garlic Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of garlic during 2019.
- China: US$2 billion (71.3% of total garlic exports)
- Spain: $359.9 million (12.9%)
- Argentina: $131.7 million (4.7%)
- Netherlands: $78.9 million (2.8%)
- France: $32.4 million (1.2%)
- Egypt: $27.3 million (1%)
- Italy: $23.5 million (0.8%)
- Chile: $21.6 million (0.8%)
- Peru: $17.5 million (0.6%)
- United States: $15.7 million (0.6%)
- Mexico: $15.2 million (0.5%)
- Iran: $11 million (0.4%)
- United Kingdom: $5.6 million (0.2%)
- India: $5.5 million (0.2%)
- Germany: $4.5 million (0.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.1% of global garlic exported in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing garlic exporters since 2015 were: Egypt (up 277.6%), Peru (up 208.1%), Iran (up 160%) and Argentina (up 57.7%).
Five countries posted declines in their exported garlic sales: United Kingdom (down -37.5%), Chile (down -21.9%), Italy (down -16.1%), United States (down -6.5%) and Mexico (down -5.1%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for garlic 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 exported garlic and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- China: US$2 billion (net export surplus up 7% since 2015)
- Spain: $350.5 million (up 34.5%)
- Argentina: $131.7 million (up 57.9%)
- Egypt: $23.6 million (reversing a -$512,000 deficit)
- Peru: $17.5 million (up 208.1%)
- Chile: $16.7 million (down -29.7%)
- Mexico: $15.2 million (reversing a -$17.4 million deficit)
- Iran: $11 million (up 160%)
- Netherlands: $10.1 million (up 54.8%)
- India: $4.9 million (up 93.1%)
- Syria: $3.1 million (reversing a -$1.5 million deficit)
- Uzbekistan: $2.4 million (no 2015 data)
- South Korea: $2.1 million (reversing a -$36.5 million deficit)
- Azerbaijan: $1.15 million (reversing a -$253,000 deficit)
- Myanmar (Burma): $16 million (down -67.6%)
The People’s Republic of China generated the highest surplus in the international trade of garlic. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for garlic 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 imported garlic purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: -US$488.3 million (net export deficit up 42.5% since 2015)
- Vietnam: -$307.2 million (up 1,229%)
- Brazil: -$224.8 million (up 27.7%)
- United States: -$184.1 million (up 10.8%)
- Malaysia: -$114.6 million (up 4.8%)
- Russia: -$75.4 million (up 11.1%)
- Bangladesh: -$73.7 million (up 38.3%)
- Germany: -$65.5 million (up 11.5%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$57.4 million (down -3.7%)
- United Kingdom: -$55.7 million (up 22.3%)
- Pakistan: -$54.9 million (down -5.6%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$51.8 million (up 34.3%)
- Japan: -$48.2 million (up 23.6%)
- Thailand: -$46.5 million (up 51.7%)
- Canada: -$45.1 million (up 19.2%)
Indonesia incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of garlic. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Indonesia’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for garlic-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Companies
Garlic Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of garlic-trading exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Algo Imports & Exports (United States)
- Amazon Andes Export SAC (Peru)
- Colned Export SL (Spain)
- Dexta Import & Export (Netherlands)
- Green Point for Import and Export (Egypt)
- Jai Commercial Centre (India)
- Jining Optimum Fruits & Vegetables Co (China)
- Le Vinotier (France)
See also Top Ginger Exporters, Onions Exports by Country and Top Sweet Pepper and Chili Pepper Exporters
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for garlic. Accessed on May 15, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 15, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 15, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 15, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 15, 2020
Wikimedia Commons organic garlic image by Jennifer Dickert, Garlic, [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]. Accessed on May 15, 2020
Wikipedia, Garlic. Accessed on May 15, 2020
