From 2019 to 2020, the global value of exported soft drinks flatlined in virtue of a tepid 0.01% gain.
The 6 biggest exporters of soft drinks (Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, United States) sold over half (52.3%) of worldwide shipments of related beverage commodities in 2020.
An ever-expanding myriad of flavors are quenching the thirst of soft drink enthusiasts around the globe. Consumers continue to indulge in tastes ranging from non-alcoholic beer, bubble gum and plum to curry and teriyaki carbonated drinks.
Drilling down within the overall soft drinks’ category, global export revenues from carbonated soft drinks were worth $9.7 billion for 2020. That dollar amount represents a 28.2% increase for that subcategory since 2016 and a modest 1.6% uptick from 2019 to 2020.
From a continental perspective, suppliers located in European countries generated the highest international sales for all types of soft drinks during 2020 with shipments valued at $14.5 billion or two-thirds (66.5%) of the worldwide total. In second place were exporters in Asia at 19% while 10.1% of globally exported soft drinks originated from North America.
Smaller percentages came from Latin America (2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (1.5%) and Oceania (0.8%) mainly New Zealand and Australia.
For research purposes, the four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 2202 for soft drinks. The subcategory code for carbonated soft drinks is 220210.
Top Soft Drinks Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of soft drinks during 2020.
- Austria: US$2.8 billion (12.9% of exported soft drinks)
- Netherlands: $1.96 billion (9%)
- Germany: $1.92 billion (8.8%)
- Switzerland: $1.85 billion (8.5%)
- Thailand: $1.6 billion (7.3%)
- United States: $1.3 billion (5.9%)
- France: $802.8 million (3.7%)
- Italy: $725.4 million (3.3%)
- Belgium: $633.4 million (2.9%)
- United Kingdom: $604.7 million (2.8%)
- Mexico: $571.5 million (2.6%)
- South Korea: $498.5 million (2.3%)
- Spain: $426.9 million (2%)
- Poland: $412.5 million (1.9%)
- Canada: $346 million (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 75.4% of global soft drinks exported in 2020.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing soft drinks exporters since 2019 were: Poland (up 24.1%), Canada (up 17.1%), Spain (up 16.6%) and Italy (up 14.4%).
Two top countries posted declines of -1.3% in their exported soft drinks sales from 2019 to 2020, namely Germany and Switzerland.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for soft drinks 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 soft drinks and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Austria: US$2.5 billion (net export surplus up 46% since 2019)
- Thailand: $1.6 billion (up 39.5%)
- Switzerland: $1.5 billion (down -7.5%)
- Netherlands: $1.1 billion (up 32.5%)
- Germany: $505.2 million (down -23.6%)
- Italy: $474.3 million (up 142.2%)
- Mexico: $431.7 million (up 179.4%)
- South Korea: $410 million (up 24.9%)
- Denmark: $200.5 million (down -3.4%)
- Malaysia: $169 million (down -35.1%)
- Poland: $154.8 million (down -38.2%)
- Taiwan: $135.9 million (up 1.2%)
- Japan: $95.6 million (down -481.6%)
- Turkey: $88.3 million (up 40.7%)
- Spain: $86.6 million (down -173.3%)
Austria generated the highest surplus in the international trade of soft drinks. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Austria’s competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for soft drinks 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 soft drinks purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$2.4 billion (net export deficit up 35.6% since 2019)
- United Kingdom: -$651.3 million (up 2.3%)
- China: -$606.8 million (up 241.7%)
- Canada: -$561.8 million (down -18.5%)
- Cambodia: -$305.8 million (up 164.7%)
- Norway: -$245.9 million (up 65.8%)
- Australia: -$196.9 million (up 22.5%)
- Ireland: -$183 million (up 53.4%)
- Singapore: -$174.6 million (up 31.6%)
- Hong Kong: -$156.1 million (down -1.1%)
- Slovakia: -$129.1 million (up 20.1%)
- Philippines: -$127.5 million (up 781.2%)
- Myanmar: -$121.6 million (up 116.8%)
- Finland: -$120.3 million (up 101.9%)
- Jordan: -$119 million (up 35.4%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of soft drinks. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for soft drinks suppliers that help satisfy the powerful demand among Canadian consumers.
Companies
Soft Drinks Exporting Companies
Below are global producers that represent established players that dominate the international soft drinks trade. The country that is home to each conglomerate’s headquarters is shown within parenthesis.
- Asahi Soft Drinks (Japan)
- Britvic plc (United Kingdom)
- Cott (Canada)
- Dr Pepper Snapple Group (United States)
- Drinko (Lebanon)
- Faygo Beverages, Inc (United States)
- Fraser and Neave, Limited (Singapore)
- Hamoud Boualem (Algeria)
- Jones Soda (United States)
- PepsiCo Inc (United States)
- Perrier (France)
- Sumal + Compal SA (Portugal)
- The Coca-Cola Company (United States)
- Vitasoy (Hong Kong)
Searchable List of Soft Drinks Exporting Countries in 2020
The 100 key exporters of soft drinks showcased in the automated database below represent 99.8% of the total value for globally exported soft drink beverages during 2020.
| Rank | Exporter | Soft Drink Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Austria | $2,803,037,000 | +5.4% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $1,960,935,000 | +5.7% |
| 3. | Germany | $1,919,841,000 | -1.3% |
| 4. | Switzerland | $1,846,806,000 | -1.3% |
| 5. | Thailand | $1,593,689,000 | +0.4% |
| 6. | United States | $1,278,083,000 | +0.1% |
| 7. | France | $802,768,000 | +4.2% |
| 8. | Italy | $725,375,000 | +14.4% |
| 9. | Belgium | $633,419,000 | +10.3% |
| 10. | United Kingdom | $604,702,000 | +2.3% |
| 11. | Mexico | $571,480,000 | +12.6% |
| 12. | South Korea | $498,492,000 | +0.6% |
| 13. | Spain | $426,896,000 | +16.6% |
| 14. | Poland | $412,505,000 | +24.1% |
| 15. | Canada | $346,002,000 | +17.1% |
| 16. | Denmark | $341,599,000 | -20.8% |
| 17. | Japan | $320,182,000 | +14.8% |
| 18. | Malaysia | $254,845,000 | -16.6% |
| 19. | Czech Republic | $241,681,000 | +3.6% |
| 20. | Sweden | $240,124,000 | +33.1% |
| 21. | Hungary | $234,627,000 | +6.5% |
| 22. | Russia | $217,420,000 | +14.9% |
| 23. | China | $202,785,000 | -8.3% |
| 24. | Taiwan | $192,193,000 | +1% |
| 25. | Turkey | $191,155,000 | +3.4% |
| 26. | Saudi Arabia | $172,658,000 | +20.2% |
| 27. | South Africa | $129,241,000 | -24.1% |
| 28. | Serbia | $125,517,000 | -5.6% |
| 29. | Guatemala | $123,833,000 | -4.4% |
| 30. | Vietnam | $121,942,000 | -18.3% |
| 31. | Hong Kong | $116,934,000 | -29% |
| 32. | Portugal | $115,059,000 | -2.9% |
| 33. | Bulgaria | $113,660,000 | +33% |
| 34. | New Zealand | $101,346,000 | +3.4% |
| 35. | Ireland | $101,113,000 | -15.7% |
| 36. | Romania | $89,733,000 | -10.3% |
| 37. | El Salvador | $85,581,000 | -43.1% |
| 38. | Zambia | $83,706,000 | +32.9% |
| 39. | Ukraine | $73,457,000 | +43% |
| 40. | Australia | $72,962,000 | +26.1% |
| 41. | Indonesia | $71,047,000 | -23.7% |
| 42. | Croatia | $62,700,000 | -6.8% |
| 43. | Slovenia | $57,567,000 | -3% |
| 44. | Slovakia | $55,913,000 | +32.7% |
| 45. | United Arab Emirates | $55,184,000 | -77.1% |
| 46. | Greece | $53,986,000 | +18.2% |
| 47. | Singapore | $46,253,000 | -27.8% |
| 48. | Kuwait | $42,483,000 | +38% |
| 49. | Luxembourg | $41,634,000 | +13.5% |
| 50. | Lithuania | $36,903,000 | +29.8% |
| 51. | Costa Rica | $36,495,000 | -9.7% |
| 52. | Kazakhstan | $36,400,000 | -12.2% |
| 53. | Nicaragua | $31,974,000 | +9.3% |
| 54. | Lebanon | $31,740,000 | +59.7% |
| 55. | Georgia | $31,262,000 | +15.3% |
| 56. | Nepal | $28,264,000 | +166159% |
| 57. | Belarus | $26,182,000 | -37.1% |
| 58. | Argentina | $25,134,000 | -3.6% |
| 59. | Bangladesh | $23,981,000 | -30.1% |
| 60. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $22,954,000 | -12.7% |
| 61. | Finland | $22,783,000 | +26.8% |
| 62. | Trinidad/Tobago | $22,776,000 | -64.9% |
| 63. | Latvia | $22,601,000 | -15.9% |
| 64. | North Macedonia | $21,624,000 | -18.8% |
| 65. | Honduras | $20,425,000 | +158.9% |
| 66. | Dominican Republic | $20,368,000 | -15.7% |
| 67. | Israel | $20,268,000 | +122.6% |
| 68. | Senegal | $20,195,000 | +210.6% |
| 69. | India | $19,980,000 | -21.1% |
| 70. | Uganda | $19,254,000 | +28.6% |
| 71. | Peru | $18,637,000 | -14.9% |
| 72. | Brazil | $16,277,000 | -5.6% |
| 73. | Colombia | $14,155,000 | -18.1% |
| 74. | Jamaica | $14,049,000 | -7.8% |
| 75. | Egypt | $13,862,000 | -37.9% |
| 76. | Morocco | $12,490,000 | -10.4% |
| 77. | Jordan | $11,247,000 | -3.2% |
| 78. | Oman | $10,958,000 | +126.5% |
| 79. | Cyprus | $10,550,000 | -0.6% |
| 80. | Estonia | $9,430,000 | -5.8% |
| 81. | Norway | $9,181,000 | -48% |
| 82. | Laos | $8,577,000 | -96.3% |
| 83. | Sri Lanka | $8,141,000 | -20.8% |
| 84. | Tunisia | $7,141,000 | -55.3% |
| 85. | Philippines | $6,355,000 | -90.4% |
| 86. | Tanzania | $5,804,000 | -49.7% |
| 87. | Kenya | $5,124,000 | -24.2% |
| 88. | Algeria | $5,103,000 | -24.9% |
| 89. | Albania | $3,942,000 | +176.1% |
| 90. | Macao | $3,915,000 | +137.1% |
| 91. | Palestine | $3,898,000 | -45.3% |
| 92. | Armenia | $3,620,000 | +17.6% |
| 93. | Bhutan | $3,565,000 | +2.1% |
| 94. | Togo | $3,559,000 | -52.2% |
| 95. | Moldova | $3,412,000 | -17.1% |
| 96. | Tajikistan | $2,970,000 | +108.7% |
| 97. | Eswatini | $2,874,000 | +1% |
| 98. | Kyrgyzstan | $2,553,000 | -5.9% |
| 99. | Curaçao | $2,538,000 | +7.2% |
| 100. | Chile | $2,435,000 | +12.7% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2019 data was unavailable.
See also Coffee Exports by Country, Tea Imports by Country and Sugar Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 24, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 24, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 24, 2021
Wikipedia, List of soft drink producers. Accessed on July 24, 2021
