Year over year, the overall value of the world’s exported gravel fell by -16.7% from $3.3 billion during 2020.
A loose aggregation of rock fragments, gravel is a key ingredient for surfacing roadways particularly for roads in rural areas with relatively less traffic. Gravel is classified by size of its granules.
In addition, gravel is combined with sand for mixing with asphalt and for producing other construction materials including concrete blocks, bricks and pipes as construction filler. Other uses include making roofing shingles, supporting water filtration and for providing traction on icy roads during winter. Gravel can also be added with industrial sand to produce glass.
The top 5 most lucrative exporters of gravel are mainland China, Norway, Germany, Belgium, and France. Collectively, that quintet of international gravel suppliers generated 43.3% of total revenues from globally exported gravel in 2021.
Among continents, European countries (63.6%) sold the highest dollar worth of exported gravel during 2021 with shipments valued at $1.75 billion. In second place were exporters in Asia at 24.5% while another 8.2% of worldwide gravel shipments originated from North America.
Smaller percentages came from Latin America (3.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (0.4%), then Oceania (0.2%) mostly New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 2517 for pebbles, gravel and broken or crushed stone gravel.
Top Gravel Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of gravel during 2021.
- China: US$355.2 million (12.9% of total gravel exports)
- Norway: $263.6 million (9.6%)
- Germany: $253 million (9.2%)
- Belgium: $173 million (6.3%)
- France: $147.9 million (5.4%)
- Austria: $136.1 million (4.9%)
- Canada: $90.7 million (3.3%)
- Italy: $87.6 million (3.2%)
- Croatia: $85.2 million (3.1%)
- India: $81.4 million (3%)
- United Kingdom: $80.1 million (2.9%)
- Netherlands: $78.3 million (2.8%)
- Mexico: $76 million (2.8%)
- Belarus: $62.3 million (2.3%)
- Indonesia: $58.8 million (2.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 73.7% of globally exported gravel in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of gravel since 2020 were: Netherlands (up 51.4%), Indonesia (up 49.7%), Belarus (up 30%) and Austria (up 25.9%).
Five major suppliers posted declines in their international sales of gravel were namely mainland China (down -27.8%), India (down -10.1%), United Kingdom (down -7.6%), Mexico (down -1.7%), and Belgium (down -1.6%).
Countries Generating Best Trade Surpluses from Gravel
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for gravel 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 gravel and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- China: US$336.4 million (net export surplus down -28.5% since 2020)
- Norway: $259.6 million (up 5.4%)
- India: $78.6 million (down -11.6%)
- Mexico: $69.5 million (down -0.9%)
- Croatia: $67.2 million (up 33%)
- Austria: $56 million (up 14.6%)
- Canada: $55.4 million (up 1%)
- Italy: $54.1 million (down -5%)
- Indonesia: $52.8 million (up 48%)
- Belarus: $50.4 million (up 40.7%)
- Malaysia: $48.2 million (up 22.2%)
- Bahamas: $35.1 million (reversing a -$400,000 deficit)
- Belgium: $33.2 million (down -4.7%)
- Vietnam: $33.1 million (down -84.1%)
- Spain: $32.3 million (up 29.5%)
The People’s Republic of China garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of gravel. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Incurring Worst Trade Deficits from Gravel
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gravel 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 gravel purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Hong Kong: -US$290.4 million (net export deficit down -46.6% since 2020)
- Netherlands: -$267.6 million (up 0.5%)
- Singapore: -$190.1 million (up 30.6%)
- United States: -$177.4 million (down -3.8%)
- Switzerland: -$136.3 million (up 7.2%)
- Poland: -$85.1 million (up 20.3%)
- Taiwan: -$75.3 million (down -2.3%)
- Bangladesh: -$72.7 million (down -63.2%)
- Russia: -$67.1 million (down -4%)
- Denmark: -$50.7 million (up 21.2%)
- Luxembourg: -$46.8 million (up 24.3%)
- Macao: -$42 million (down -19.1%)
- Sweden: -$40.4 million (up 11.5%)
- Maldives: -$29.7 million (up 36.3%)
- Germany: -$27.8 million (up 102.1%)
Hong Kong incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gravel. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Hong Kong’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gravel-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Gravel Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are selected examples of gravel-trading exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- ECO World FZE (United Arab Emirates)
- Canada Trading & Contracting Inc (Canada)
- Shijiazhuang Mining Imp & Exp Trade Co (China)
- Shri Vinayak Industries (India)
Searchable List of Gravel Exporting Countries in 2021
The following automated database showcases 100 key gravel exporters by country which accounted for 99.98% of the overall value of globally exported gravel in 2021.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Gravel | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $355,218,000 | -27.8% |
| 2. | Norway | $263,640,000 | +6.2% |
| 3. | Germany | $252,996,000 | +8.1% |
| 4. | Belgium | $173,018,000 | -1.6% |
| 5. | France | $147,914,000 | +13.6% |
| 6. | Austria | $136,051,000 | +25.9% |
| 7. | Canada | $90,679,000 | +4.4% |
| 8. | Italy | $87,575,000 | +4.1% |
| 9. | Croatia | $85,198,000 | +24.1% |
| 10. | India | $81,417,000 | -10.1% |
| 11. | United Kingdom | $80,119,000 | -7.6% |
| 12. | Netherlands | $78,301,000 | +51.4% |
| 13. | Mexico | $76,007,000 | -1.7% |
| 14. | Belarus | $62,254,000 | +30% |
| 15. | Indonesia | $58,808,000 | +49.7% |
| 16. | United States | $58,047,000 | +28.1% |
| 17. | Malaysia | $52,817,000 | +20.4% |
| 18. | Slovenia | $50,532,000 | +1.1% |
| 19. | Spain | $39,311,000 | +28.4% |
| 20. | Bahamas | $35,904,000 | +1102% |
| 21. | Vietnam | $34,531,000 | -83.7% |
| 22. | Czech Republic | $30,632,000 | +22.1% |
| 23. | Turkey | $30,122,000 | +6.3% |
| 24. | Denmark | $29,514,000 | -21.9% |
| 25. | Ukraine | $27,491,000 | -7.6% |
| 26. | United Arab Emirates | $22,396,000 | -90.6% |
| 27. | Russia | $22,244,000 | +10.6% |
| 28. | Finland | $19,872,000 | -44.5% |
| 29. | Hungary | $19,448,000 | +30.5% |
| 30. | Poland | $18,323,000 | +29.1% |
| 31. | Romania | $15,379,000 | +17.4% |
| 32. | Greece | $14,509,000 | +27% |
| 33. | Iceland | $14,270,000 | +20.6% |
| 34. | Sweden | $13,024,000 | +12.2% |
| 35. | Slovakia | $11,429,000 | +3.9% |
| 36. | Lithuania | $10,248,000 | +87.3% |
| 37. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $9,407,000 | -3.8% |
| 38. | Honduras | $8,436,000 | -1.9% |
| 39. | Thailand | $8,087,000 | -7.4% |
| 40. | Jamaica | $7,918,000 | +247.1% |
| 41. | Ireland | $6,454,000 | -33.2% |
| 42. | Suriname | $6,356,000 | 0% |
| 43. | Iran | $6,214,000 | -21.8% |
| 44. | Serbia | $6,055,000 | +23% |
| 45. | Saint Lucia | $5,902,000 | +120.9% |
| 46. | Laos | $5,759,000 | -3.6% |
| 47. | Colombia | $5,043,000 | +42.6% |
| 48. | Switzerland | $4,883,000 | -20.9% |
| 49. | Portugal | $4,801,000 | +6.9% |
| 50. | New Zealand | $4,506,000 | +11.2% |
| 51. | Bulgaria | $4,350,000 | +2.9% |
| 52. | Uzbekistan | $4,247,000 | +489% |
| 53. | South Korea | $4,185,000 | +10.9% |
| 54. | Estonia | $4,160,000 | +0.2% |
| 55. | Senegal | $3,918,000 | +125.3% |
| 56. | Dominican Republic | $3,264,000 | +109.5% |
| 57. | Kazakhstan | $3,261,000 | +41.8% |
| 58. | Peru | $2,827,000 | +14.8% |
| 59. | Jordan | $2,688,000 | +823.7% |
| 60. | Latvia | $2,140,000 | -8.6% |
| 61. | Egypt | $2,031,000 | +37.3% |
| 62. | Albania | $1,999,000 | 0% |
| 63. | Tunisia | $1,771,000 | +63.7% |
| 64. | Japan | $1,732,000 | -3% |
| 65. | North Macedonia | $1,699,000 | -53.3% |
| 66. | Costa Rica | $1,680,000 | +335.2% |
| 67. | Haiti | $1,319,000 | -1.7% |
| 68. | Guatemala | $1,183,000 | +148.5% |
| 69. | Montserrat | $1,127,000 | +58.3% |
| 70. | Argentina | $1,113,000 | +15.6% |
| 71. | Luxembourg | $1,085,000 | +64.9% |
| 72. | Philippines | $1,074,000 | -7.1% |
| 73. | Namibia | $1,047,000 | -13.3% |
| 74. | Dominica | $988,000 | -19.6% |
| 75. | Israel | $908,000 | +97.8% |
| 76. | South Africa | $907,000 | +123.4% |
| 77. | Paraguay | $853,000 | +384.7% |
| 78. | Montenegro | $807,000 | -7.3% |
| 79. | Brazil | $786,000 | -13.3% |
| 80. | Taiwan | $583,000 | +2.1% |
| 81. | Morocco | $546,000 | +59.2% |
| 82. | Georgia | $456,000 | +4.8% |
| 83. | Australia | $404,000 | -2.2% |
| 84. | Kenya | $345,000 | +24.5% |
| 85. | Fiji | $299,000 | -57.4% |
| 86. | Pakistan | $296,000 | +8% |
| 87. | Curaçao | $288,000 | +423.6% |
| 88. | Zambia | $281,000 | -26.6% |
| 89. | Barbados | $278,000 | +355.7% |
| 90. | Angola | $262,000 | +6450% |
| 91. | Syria | $186,000 | +2557% |
| 92. | Gibraltar | $128,000 | +884.6% |
| 93. | Singapore | $120,000 | -43.1% |
| 94. | St Kitts/Nevis | $68,000 | -42.9% |
| 95. | Cyprus | $65,000 | +1200% |
| 96. | Kyrgyzstan | $63,000 | +384.6% |
| 97. | Chile | $57,000 | +1325% |
| 98. | Bhutan | $54,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Ethiopia | $50,000 | +525% |
| 100. | Bangladesh | $42,000 | +50% |
Focusing on the 100 major suppliers, the fastest growers from 2020 to 2021 were Angola (up 6,450%), Syria (up 2,557%), Chile (up 1,325%), Cyprus (up 1,200%), Bahamas (up 1,202%), Gibraltar (up 884.6%), and Jordan (up 823.7%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icons at the top of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2021 data was unavailable.
See also Cements Exports by Country, Top Sand Exporters by Country, Sawn Wood Exports by Country and Top Glass and Glassware Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for gravel stone. Accessed on September 20, 2022
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on September 20, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 20, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 20, 2022
Minerals Education Coalition (MEC), Mining & Minerals Information, Minerals Database, Sand and Gravel, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on September 20, 2022
Wikipedia, Gravel. Accessed on September 20, 2022
