Year over year, globally exported milk dropped in value by -0.8% from 2018 to 2019.
From a continental perspective, Europe sold over half (53.8%) of worldwide milk exports. Led by New Zealand, countries in the continent of Oceania placed second at 25%. Asia was responsible for 9.2% of global milk exports ahead of North American milk exporters also at 7.4%. Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean came in at 4.1%, trailed by Africa at 0.5%.
There are two major product classifications used for the international trade of milk. The 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code prefix is 0401 for milk and cream that is not concentrated nor containing added sugar or other sweetening matter. For milk and cream that does contain concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter, the 4-digit code is 0402.
Unsweetened milk exports under HTS prefix 0401 amounted to $9 billion (31.3% of the global total) while sweetened milk items under code 0402 came to $19.6 billion (68.7%).
Milk Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of milk during 2019, encompassing both unsweetened and unsweetened varieties of product.
- New Zealand: US$6.3 billion (21.8% of total milk exports)
- Germany: $2.9 billion (10.2%)
- Netherlands: $2.4 billion (8.4%)
- United States: $1.9 billion (6.7%)
- Belgium: $1.8 billion (6.4%)
- France: $1.7 billion (5.8%)
- Hong Kong: $980.5 million (3.4%)
- Australia: $891.5 million (3.1%)
- Poland: $824.2 million (2.9%)
- United Kingdom: $800.9 million (2.8%)
- Ireland: $658.5 million (2.3%)
- Belarus: $571.4 million (2%)
- Saudi Arabia: $507 million (1.8%)
- Denmark: $463.7 million (1.6%)
- Spain: $462.3 million (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped about four-fifths (80.8%) of worldwide milk exported in 2019.
Among the above milk suppliers, the fastest-growing countries for exported milk since 2015 were: Hong Kong (up 133.4%), Ireland (up 132.3%), Poland (up 40%) and Belgium (up 36.4%).
Four leading providers posted declines in their exported milk sales namely: Belarus (down -16.3%), Denmark (down -4.8%), Australia (down -2.8%) and France (down -1.7%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for milk 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 milk and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- New Zealand: US$6.2 billion (net export surplus up 34.2% since 2015)
- United States: $1.8 billion (up 20.8%)
- Netherlands: $1.1 billion (up 10.5%)
- Germany: $1 billion (down -20.9%)
- France: $793.6 million (down -10.2%)
- Australia: $686.5 million (down -17%)
- Belarus: $563.4 million (down -14.2%)
- Belgium: $510.4 million (up 48.5%)
- Uruguay: $456.9 million (up 20.1%)
- Poland: $421.1 million (up 80.4%)
- Czech Republic: $399.1 million (up 17.5%)
- United Kingdom: $394.9 million (up 61.5%)
- Argentina: $343.1 million (down -38.3%)
- Denmark: $306.6 million (down -23.6%)
- Ireland: $282.6 million (reversing a -$20.3 million deficit)
New Zealand has the highest surplus in the international trade of milk. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms New Zealand’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the severest negative net exports for milk 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 milk purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- China: -US$4.2 billion (net export deficit up 115.2% since 2015)
- Italy: -$1.1 billion (down -0.6%)
- Algeria: -$1 billion (down -2.7%)
- Mexico: -$739.7 million (up 22.1%)
- Hong Kong: -$682 million (down -39.6%)
- Indonesia: -$627.7 million (up 27.5%)
- Russia: -$590.9 million (up 14.6%)
- Philippines: -$581.1 million (up 84.3%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$443.7 million (up 43.5%)
- Vietnam: -$437.9 million (up 41.5%)
- Bangladesh: -$353 million (up 29.9%)
- Nigeria: -$337.6 million (down -21%)
- Singapore: -$329.2 million (up 13.8%)
- Taiwan: -$314.2 million (up 36.1%)
- Malaysia: -$310.7 million (up 17.8%)
China incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of milk. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights strong Chinese competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for milk-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand from the highly populous People’s Republic of China.
Companies
Milk Exporting Companies
Below are global milk-processing companies that represent established players engaged in the international milk trade. Many of these business entities are cooperatives. The home country for each company is shown within parenthesis.
- Almarai (Saudi Arabia)
- Arla Foods (Denmark)
- Borden Milk Products (United States)
- Canberra Milk (Australia)
- First Milk (United Kingdom)
- Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (New Zealand)
- FrieslandCampina (Netherlands)
- La Serenísima (Argentina)
- Lactalis (France)
- Zott (Germany)
Searchable List of Milk Exporting Countries
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. The right-most column shows the percentage increase in the value of exported milk from 2015 to 2019. (An entry of 0% in that column means no 2015 data was available.)
| Rank | Supplier | Milk Exports (US$) | 2015-19 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | New Zealand | $6,251,488,000 | +33.8% |
| 2. | Germany | $2,906,990,000 | +6.7% |
| 3. | Netherlands | $2,398,238,000 | +24.9% |
| 4. | United States | $1,929,132,000 | +20.5% |
| 5. | Belgium | $1,825,851,000 | +36.4% |
| 6. | France | $1,654,430,000 | -1.7% |
| 7. | Hong Kong | $980,458,000 | +133.4% |
| 8. | Australia | $891,508,000 | -2.8% |
| 9. | Poland | $824,245,000 | +40% |
| 10. | United Kingdom | $800,883,000 | +25.5% |
| 11. | Ireland | $658,495,000 | +132.3% |
| 12. | Belarus | $571,375,000 | -16.3% |
| 13. | Saudi Arabia | $506,966,000 | +12.9% |
| 14. | Denmark | $463,654,000 | -4.8% |
| 15. | Spain | $462,314,000 | +25.6% |
| 16. | Uruguay | $460,149,000 | +19.7% |
| 17. | Czech Republic | $459,975,000 | +13.6% |
| 18. | Austria | $404,364,000 | +2.7% |
| 19. | Argentina | $351,748,000 | -37.2% |
| 20. | Lithuania | $292,869,000 | +71.3% |
| 21. | Malaysia | $260,784,000 | -12.6% |
| 22. | United Arab Emirates | $207,660,000 | -62.2% |
| 23. | Sweden | $182,258,000 | -23.8% |
| 24. | Luxembourg | $167,331,000 | +28.5% |
| 25. | Singapore | $146,943,000 | -17.7% |
| 26. | Latvia | $142,325,000 | +34.4% |
| 27. | Portugal | $141,408,000 | -8.8% |
| 28. | Italy | $133,818,000 | +24% |
| 29. | Slovenia | $132,850,000 | +9.9% |
| 30. | Hungary | $131,019,000 | -7.4% |
| 31. | Finland | $125,170,000 | +11.1% |
| 32. | Thailand | $118,213,000 | +50.6% |
| 33. | Canada | $116,675,000 | +195% |
| 34. | South Africa | $112,506,000 | -3.5% |
| 35. | Turkey | $109,456,000 | +198.3% |
| 36. | Costa Rica | $94,885,000 | +21.9% |
| 37. | Estonia | $92,722,000 | +39.5% |
| 38. | Slovakia | $90,828,000 | -25.7% |
| 39. | Peru | $88,806,000 | -17% |
| 40. | Mexico | $69,738,000 | -1.3% |
| 41. | Ukraine | $60,127,000 | -36% |
| 42. | Chile | $54,052,000 | -24.5% |
| 43. | Romania | $48,981,000 | +20.4% |
| 44. | Russia | $48,355,000 | -13.4% |
| 45. | India | $44,015,000 | -24.8% |
| 46. | Switzerland | $43,774,000 | -2.1% |
| 47. | Oman | $42,981,000 | -84.6% |
| 48. | Nicaragua | $37,241,000 | -56.4% |
| 49. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $36,212,000 | +57.8% |
| 50. | Philippines | $34,057,000 | 0% |
| 51. | China | $33,005,000 | -16.6% |
| 52. | Brazil | $32,942,000 | -88.7% |
| 53. | South Korea | $30,238,000 | +19.8% |
| 54. | Serbia | $29,028,000 | +143.5% |
| 55. | Greece | $21,513,000 | +41% |
| 56. | Paraguay | $21,346,000 | +463.4% |
| 57. | Iran | $19,947,000 | -87.1% |
| 58. | Vietnam | $18,864,000 | -74.8% |
| 59. | Kazakhstan | $18,543,000 | +268.7% |
| 60. | Kuwait | $18,503,000 | -85.2% |
| 61. | Croatia | $15,873,000 | 0% |
| 62. | Japan | $15,121,000 | +35.5% |
| 63. | Kyrgyzstan | $14,888,000 | -59.3% |
| 64. | Bulgaria | $13,808,000 | -3.5% |
| 65. | Honduras | $11,469,000 | 0% |
| 66. | Norway | $10,992,000 | 0% |
| 67. | Indonesia | $9,558,000 | -72.1% |
| 68. | Nigeria | $8,155,000 | -4.3% |
| 69. | North Macedonia | $6,027,000 | +152.1% |
| 70. | Ghana | $5,745,000 | 0% |
| 71. | Panama | $4,402,000 | -13.6% |
| 72. | Yemen | $3,832,000 | -71.2% |
| 73. | Bolivia | $3,700,000 | -87.1% |
| 74. | Algeria | $3,501,000 | -10.2% |
| 75. | Senegal | $3,473,000 | -67.8% |
| 76. | Morocco | $3,257,000 | 0% |
| 77. | Cyprus | $2,957,000 | -2.2% |
| 78. | Colombia | $2,776,000 | -85.8% |
| 79. | Togo | $2,349,000 | -90.5% |
| 80. | Bahrain | $2,217,000 | -54.6% |
| 81. | Zambia | $1,816,000 | +376.6% |
| 82. | Taiwan | $1,781,000 | +37.5% |
| 83. | Namibia | $1,553,000 | 0% |
| 84. | El Salvador | $1,508,000 | +56.8% |
| 85. | Bangladesh | $1,096,000 | +8.3% |
| 86. | Zimbabwe | $1,027,000 | +62.8% |
| 87. | Mauritius | $1,018,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Trinidad/Tobago | $936,000 | -71.8% |
| 89. | Azerbaijan | $894,000 | 0% |
| 90. | Iceland | $791,000 | -26% |
| 91. | Georgia | $767,000 | +80% |
| 92. | Guatemala | $613,000 | -35% |
| 93. | Egypt | $610,000 | -97% |
| 94. | Jordan | $363,000 | -96.7% |
| 95. | Uganda | $360,000 | -99% |
| 96. | Brunei Darussalam | $339,000 | +2,725% |
| 97. | Tunisia | $339,000 | -77.2% |
| 98. | Pakistan | $331,000 | -99.3% |
| 99. | Ecuador | $301,000 | -95.3% |
| 100. | Niger | $299,000 | -51.5% |
| 101. | Ivory Coast | $203,000 | -98.5% |
| 102. | Lebanon | $174,000 | -81.2% |
| 103. | Haiti | $131,000 | +87.1% |
| 104. | Jamaica | $129,000 | -4.4% |
| 105. | Barbados | $118,000 | -70.1% |
| 106. | Uzbekistan | $111,000 | 0% |
| 107. | Sierra Leone | $97,000 | +203.1% |
| 108. | Botswana | $88,000 | -78.8% |
| 109. | US Minor Outlying Is | $87,000 | -18.7% |
| 110. | Kenya | $79,000 | -98.3% |
| 111. | Dominican Republic | $78,000 | -98.1% |
| 112. | Cabo Verde | $53,000 | +783.3% |
| 113. | Malta | $52,000 | +477.8% |
| 114. | Eswatini | $45,000 | -96.1% |
| 115. | Armenia | $42,000 | -76.5% |
| 116. | Israel | $39,000 | -99.3% |
| 117. | Mali | $38,000 | 0% |
| 118. | Sri Lanka | $36,000 | -97.8% |
| 119. | Antigua/Barbuda | $35,000 | -41.7% |
| 120. | Fiji | $33,000 | -99.3% |
| 121. | Montenegro | $27,000 | -85.9% |
| 122. | Lesotho | $23,000 | -47.7% |
| 123. | Iraq | $22,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Seychelles | $19,000 | 0% |
| 125. | Mozambique | $17,000 | +750% |
| 126. | Gabon | $16,000 | 0% |
| 127. | Venezuela | $15,000 | 0% |
| 128. | Curaçao | $13,000 | -88.2% |
| 129. | Sudan | $7,000 | -65% |
| 130. | Macao | $4,000 | 0% |
| 131. | Mongolia | $2,000 | +100% |
See also Top Milk Imports by Country, New Zealand’s Top 10 Exports and Germany’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on April 30, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Category:Dairy products companies by country. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Dairy. Accessed on April 30, 2020
