Year over year, globally exported garlic declined by -3.2% from $3.19 billion during 2020.
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 world’s 5 biggest exporters of garlic are mainland China, Spain, Argentina, Netherlands, and France. Collectively, those 5 major suppliers earned 91.4% of revenues earned for garlic sold on international market during 2021. Such a high percentage indicates a concentrated cohort of garlic suppliers.
From a continental perspective, countries in Asia sold just over two-thirds (67.6%) of the world’s garlic exports during 2021 with shipments valued at $2.09 billion. In second place were European exporters at 23.1% while 6.8% of global garlic shipments originated from Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Smaller percentages came from North America (1.5%), Africa (0.9%), then New Zealand, Australia and Fiji (0.02%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for garlic is 070320.
Top Garlic Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of garlic during 2021.
- China: US$2 billion (65.9% of total garlic exports)
- Spain: $484.5 million (15.7%)
- Argentina: $147.3 million (4.8%)
- Netherlands: $111.2 million (3.6%)
- France: $44.9 million (1.5%)
- Chile: $41.4 million (1.3%)
- Italy: $38 million (1.2%)
- Mexico: $28.3 million (0.9%)
- Egypt: $24.7 million (0.8%)
- Peru: $19.6 million (0.6%)
- United States: $18.4 million (0.6%)
- Iran: $16.2 million (0.5%)
- Malaysia: $8.5 million (0.3%)
- Turkey: $6.9 million (0.2%)
- Germany: $4.4 million (0.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98% of global garlic exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing garlic exporters since 2020 were: Turkey (up 51.6%), Malaysia (up 32.2%), Chile (up 24.9%) and Mexico (up 24.2%).
Major international suppliers that posted declines in their exported garlic sales were led by: Egypt (down -35.1%), Peru (down -25.6%), Argentina (down -14.8%), Germany (down -11.7%) and Italy (down -6.3%).
Countries Winning Best Trade Surpluses from Garlic
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for garlic 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 garlic and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- China: US$2 billion (net export surplus down -1.4% since 2020)
- Spain: $467.2 million (up 0.7%)
- Argentina: $146.7 million (down -13.7%)
- Netherlands: $50.2 million (up 37.8%)
- Chile: $34 million (up 33.4%)
- Peru: $19.6 million (down -25.6%)
- Iran: $16.2 million (up 11.3%)
- Egypt: $12.6 million (down -55%)
- Myanmar: $4 million (down -45.7%)
- Uzbekistan: $2.5 million (reversing a -$715,000 deficit)
- India: $2 million (up 140.7%)
- Madagascar: $566,000 (up 27.2%)
- Ethiopia: $204,000 (reversing a -$751,000 deficit)
- Kyrgyzstan: $184,000 (up 50.8%)
- Yemen: $80,000 (reversing a -$13.8 million deficit)
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.
Countries Posting Largest Trade Deficits from Garlic
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for garlic 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 garlic purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: -US$665.8 million (net export deficit up 13.7% since 2020)
- Vietnam: -$296.6 million (up 556.3%)
- United States of America: -$238.6 million (up 9.8%)
- Brazil: -$165.5 million (down -39.3%)
- Malaysia: -$142.9 million (up 29.9%)
- Germany: -$104.1 million (up 3.2%)
- Russia: -$72.7 million (down -18.4%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$71.7 million (up 266.6%)
- Pakistan: -$67.1 million (down -33.3%)
- United Kingdom: -$58.3 million (down -23.8%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$57.4 million (down -4.9%)
- Canada: -$55.5 million (up 2.8%)
- Japan: -$54.2 million (up 10.9%)
- Bangladesh: -$46.8 million (down -29.1%)
- Sri Lanka: -$46.7 million (up 26.4%)
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.
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 July 28, 2022
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 28, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Wikimedia Commons organic garlic image by Jennifer Dickert, Garlic, [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]. Accessed on July 28, 2022
Wikipedia, Garlic. Accessed on July 28, 2022
