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.
The 5 biggest exporters of garlic are China, Spain, Argentina, Netherlands and Italy. Collectively, those 5 countries represent 90.8% of revenues earned for garlic sold on international market during 2020. That percentage indicates a very concentrated cohort of garlic suppliers.
From a continental perspective, Asian countries sold over two-thirds (67.7%) of the world’s exported garlic during 2020 with shipments valued at $2.1 billion. In second place were European exporters at 22.1% while 7.5% of global garlic shipments originated from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Smaller percentages came from North America (1.34%), Africa (also 1.33%) then Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand (0.02%).
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 2020.
- China: US$2.1 billion (65.7% of total garlic exports)
- Spain: $477.9 million (15.2%)
- Argentina: $174.3 million (5.5%)
- Netherlands: $97.4 million (3.1%)
- Italy: $39.9 million (1.3%)
- France: $38.5 million (1.2%)
- Egypt: $38.1 million (1.2%)
- Chile: $33.2 million (1.1%)
- Peru: $26.3 million (0.8%)
- Mexico: $23.7 million (0.8%)
- United States: $17.8 million (0.6%)
- South Korea: $9.9 million (0.3%)
- Myanmar: $7.3 million (0.2%)
- Singapore: $6.7 million (0.2%)
- Malaysia: $6.4 million (0.2%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 97.4% of global garlic exported in 2020 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing garlic exporters since 2019 were: Singapore (up 342.8%), South Korea (up 149.4%), Italy (up 70.9%) and Chile (up 53.6%).
Only one of these top suppliers posted a decline in its exported garlic sales, namely Myanmar via a -5.2% drop.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for garlic 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 garlic and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- China: US$2.1 billion (net export surplus up 3.6% since 2019)
- Spain: $463.8 million (up 34.7%)
- Argentina: $171.3 million (up 30.1%)
- Netherlands: $37.7 million (up 49.3%)
- Egypt: $28.1 million (up 15.3%)
- Peru: $26.3 million (up 50.5%)
- Chile: $26 million (up 55.3%)
- Myanmar: $7.3 million (down -4.7%)
- South Korea: $6.8 million (up 228.5%)
- Iran: $4.1 million (down -75.4%)
- Syrian Arab Republic: $1.3 million (down -6.8%)
- Afghanistan: $1.2 million (up 203.9%)
- India: $831,000 (down -85%)
- Madagascar: $445,000 (up 11.5%)
- Kyrgyzstan: $122,000 (down -78.3%)
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 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 garlic purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: -US$585.5 million (net export deficit up 10.5% since 2019)
- Brazil: -$272.8 million (up 21.4%)
- United States: -$217.2 million (up 18%)
- Malaysia: -$110 million (down -4%)
- Pakistan: -$100.4 million (up 76.6%)
- Germany: -$97.7 million (up 42.2%)
- Russia: -$89.1 million (up 18.1%)
- United Kingdom: -$72.9 million (up 32.8%)
- Bangladesh: -$66 million (down -12.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$62.5 million (up 202.6%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$60.4 million (up 16.7%)
- Canada: -$53.9 million (up 19.6%)
- Japan: -$48.9 million (up 1.5%)
- France: -$47.5 million (up 115%)
- Vietnam: -$45.2 million (up 19.5%)
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 Exported Spices by Sales, Weight and Unit Value, Top Ginger Exporters, Onions Exports by Country and Top Sweet Pepper and Chili Pepper Exporters
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for garlic. Accessed on August 30, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on August 30, 2021
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 30, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 30, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 30, 2021
Wikimedia Commons organic garlic image by Jennifer Dickert, Garlic, [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]. Accessed on August 30, 2021
Wikipedia, Garlic. Accessed on August 30, 2021
