Natural human hair is also a coveted commodity in international trade, processed by businesses into hair extensions and wigs.
Globally, international sales of exported human hair (excluding hair extensions and wigs) totaled US$58.3 million in 2019. That dollar amount reflects a -13.7% decline from $67.5 million in exports during 2015 and a -22.2% drop from 2018 to 2019.
Among continents, Asia sold the highest dollar worth of exported human hair during 2019 with shipments valued at $52.3 million or 89.8% of the global total. In second place were exporters in Europe at 6.8%. Tinier percentages came from North America (1.6%), Latin America specifically Brazil and Bolivia (1.3%), Africa (0.5%) with $1,100 sourced from Australia (0.02%) on the Oceania continent.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0501 for human hair. The formal prefix code label for 0501 is unworked human hair whether or not washed or scoured and the waste of human hair.
Top Human Hair Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of human hair during 2019.
- Hong Kong: US$30.2 million (51.9% of total human hair exports)
- India: $19 million (32.5%)
- United Kingdom: $2.4 million (4.1%)
- United States: $945,000 (1.6%)
- Myanmar (Burma): $890,000 (1.5%)
- Brazil: $740,000 (1.3%)
- Thailand: $499,000 (0.9%)
- Ukraine: $483,000 (0.8%)
- Japan: $446,000 (0.8%)
- Italy: $392,000 (0.7%)
- Bangladesh: $324,000 (0.6%)
- South Africa: $291,000 (0.5%)
- Ireland: $274,000 (0.5%)
- China: $224,000 (0.4%)
- Vietnam: $164,000 (0.3%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.2% of all human hair exported in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing human hair exporters since 2015 were: Thailand (up 24,850%), Hong Kong (up 3,686%), United Kingdom (up 923.7%) and Brazil (up 598.1%).
Four major suppliers posted declines in their exported human hair sales namely Myanmar also called Burma (down -85.4%), South Africa (down -64.2%), United States (down -63.8%) and India (down -48.8%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for human hair 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 human hair and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- India: US$18.6 million (net export surplus down -33.9% since 2015)
- Hong Kong: $12.5 million (reversing a -$262,000 deficit)
- United Kingdom: $1.5 million (reversing a -$741,000 deficit)
- Thailand: $499,000 (reversing a -$47,000 deficit)
- Ukraine: $482,000 (no 2015 data)
- Japan: $412,000 (reversing a -$48,000 deficit)
- Bangladesh: $288,000 (reversing an -$11.2 million deficit)
- South Africa: $286,000 (down -64.3%)
- Ireland: $269,000 (reversing a -$24,000 deficit)
- United States of America: $253,000 (down -69%)
- China: $224,000 (no 2015 data)
- Tajikistan: $138,000 (up 89%)
- Nepal: $95,000 (down -39.5%)
- Malaysia: $50,000 (down -41.2%)
- Brazil: $42,000 (reversing a -$202,000 deficit)
India earned the highest surplus in the international trade of human hair. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms India’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for human hair 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 human hair purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: -US$29.9 million (net export deficit up 52% since 2015)
- Austria: -$16.1 million (up 62.5%)
- Myanmar (Burma): -$9.6 million (reversing a $4.8 million surplus)
- Italy: -$7.3 million (down -29.4%)
- Sweden: -$2.8 million (up 6,031%)
- Israel: -$2.3 million (up 311.3%)
- Tunisia: -$527,000 (reversing a $14.2 million surplus)
- Laos: -$499,000 (down -20%)
- Germany: -$422,000 (down -61.8%)
- Vietnam: -$267,000 (no 2015 data)
- South Korea: -$217,000 (up 214.5%)
- Democratic Rep. Congo: -$191,000 (up 15.1%)
- Netherlands: -$169,000 (down -36.5%)
- Slovakia: -$166,000 (down -14.4%)
- Spain: -$139,000 (down -35.6%)
Indonesia incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of human hair. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Indonesia’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for human hair-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Companies
Human Hair Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of human hair exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- B & K Import & Export (United States)
- Business-Salon Group Ltd (Ukraine)
- Evergreen Products Factory Ltd (Hong Kong)
- GRV Exports (India)
- Rawhair Import Export Company (Vietnam)
- UNICS Co, Ltd (Japan)
- Waheed Universal Hair Company (Pakistan)
- Widya International (Indonesia)
See also Top Exporters of Wigs, Beards and Eyelashes, Beauty Cosmetics and Skincare Exports by Country and Perfumes Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for human hair. Accessed on May 3, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 3, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 3, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 3, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 3, 2020
Wikipedia, Hair theft. Accessed on May 3, 2020
