The overall value of cheese imports increased by 29% for all importing countries from five years earlier in 2019 when international purchases of cheese were valued at $32.8 billion.
Year over year, globally imported cheese recorded a 5.8% gain compared to $40 billion during 2022.
The 5 biggest cheese importers in 2023 form a cohort of European buyer countries namely Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and Belgium. Collectively, that subgroup bought 38.3% of worldwide spending on imported cheese during 2023.
From a continental perspective, suppliers in European countries bought the highest dollar worth of imported cheese during 2023 with purchases costing $29.1 billion or 68.9% of the global total. In second place were importers located in Asia at 15.9% while another 7.5% of cheese imported worldwide was delivered to North America.
Smaller percentages were sold to customers in Latin America (4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (1.84%) led by Australia and New Zealand, then Africa (1.81%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for cheese and curd is 0406.
Cheese Imports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2023.
- Germany: US$5.6 billion (13.3% of total imported cheese)
- France: $3 billion (7.1%)
- Italy: $2.8 billion (6.7%)
- United Kingdom: $2.5 billion (5.8%)
- Belgium: $2.3 billion (5.3%)
- Netherlands: $2.1 billion (4.9%)
- Spain: $1.9 billion (4.4%)
- United States: $1.8 billion (4.3%)
- Japan: $1.4 billion (3.3%)
- mainland China: $967.7 million (2.3%)
- Mexico: $887 million (2.1%)
- South Korea: $862.6 million (2%)
- Sweden: $811.2 million (1.9%)
- Austria: $772.2 million (1.8%)
- Greece: $705.6 million (1.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased roughly two-thirds (67%) of all cheese imported in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for cheese since 2022 were: mainland China (up 25.8%), Mexico (up 18.5%), Austria (up 15.7%) and Belgium (up 13.5%).
Greece was the lone top country to post a decline in its imported cheese purchases, recording a -2.1% setback.
Searchable List of Cheese Importer Countries in 2023
The 100 key buyers of imported cheese featured in the automated database below purchased 98.9% of the overall value for cheese imports during 2023.
| Rank | Importer | Cheese Imports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $5,639,574,000 | +5.1% |
| 2. | France | $3,022,410,000 | +11.7% |
| 3. | Italy | $2,817,837,000 | +8.5% |
| 4. | United Kingdom | $2,466,110,000 | +9.7% |
| 5. | Belgium | $2,256,265,000 | +13.5% |
| 6. | Netherlands | $2,053,281,000 | +12% |
| 7. | Spain | $1,869,592,000 | +8.6% |
| 8. | United States | $1,824,621,000 | +11.2% |
| 9. | Japan | $1,405,915,000 | +2.1% |
| 10. | mainland China | $967,736,000 | +25.8% |
| 11. | Mexico | $887,029,000 | +18.5% |
| 12. | South Korea | $862,586,000 | +8.8% |
| 13. | Sweden | $811,241,000 | +1.9% |
| 14. | Austria | $772,249,000 | +15.7% |
| 15. | Greece | $705,578,000 | -2.1% |
| 16. | Poland | $653,728,000 | +15.3% |
| 17. | Saudi Arabia | $650,822,000 | -31% |
| 18. | Australia | $628,144,000 | +14.4% |
| 19. | Switzerland | $593,950,000 | +13% |
| 20. | Czech Republic | $589,369,000 | +4.2% |
| 21. | Romania | $548,635,000 | +6.8% |
| 22. | Denmark | $535,118,000 | +7.9% |
| 23. | Canada | $474,913,000 | +9.2% |
| 24. | Luxembourg | $423,517,000 | +5.1% |
| 25. | Portugal | $394,488,000 | +11.1% |
| 26. | Finland | $376,324,000 | +6.9% |
| 27. | Hungary | $344,926,000 | +15.7% |
| 28. | United Arab Emirates | $344,459,000 | -23.6% |
| 29. | Ireland | $320,280,000 | +1% |
| 30. | Chile | $311,952,000 | +14.9% |
| 31. | Slovakia | $305,977,000 | +6.4% |
| 32. | El Salvador | $216,254,000 | +20.6% |
| 33. | Brazil | $213,368,000 | +30.7% |
| 34. | Croatia | $205,149,000 | +7.1% |
| 35. | Philippines | $203,182,000 | -7.2% |
| 36. | Ukraine | $200,707,000 | +10.4% |
| 37. | Taiwan | $187,633,000 | -3% |
| 38. | Dominican Republic | $183,623,000 | +5.1% |
| 39. | Malaysia | $174,317,000 | -4.5% |
| 40. | Bulgaria | $173,191,000 | +12.5% |
| 41. | Iraq | $172,876,000 | -44.8% |
| 42. | Libya | $169,013,000 | +15.9% |
| 43. | Morocco | $163,943,000 | +16.9% |
| 44. | Jordan | $163,243,000 | +3.4% |
| 45. | Norway | $158,409,000 | +8.6% |
| 46. | Slovenia | $157,608,000 | +7.7% |
| 47. | Kazakhstan | $153,772,000 | -1.1% |
| 48. | Indonesia | $143,812,000 | -12.6% |
| 49. | Guatemala | $141,540,000 | +14.1% |
| 50. | Singapore | $124,351,000 | +2% |
| 51. | Kuwait | $120,127,000 | -39.2% |
| 52. | Lithuania | $119,281,000 | +10.6% |
| 53. | Thailand | $118,812,000 | +12.7% |
| 54. | Lebanon | $108,045,000 | +21.8% |
| 55. | Russia | $105,171,000 | -15.6% |
| 56. | Israel | $104,360,000 | +8.9% |
| 57. | Bahrain | $99,154,000 | +3.5% |
| 58. | Hong Kong | $98,421,000 | -6.8% |
| 59. | Egypt | $95,278,000 | -19.7% |
| 60. | Cyprus | $86,800,000 | +14.5% |
| 61. | Panama | $85,635,000 | -9.9% |
| 62. | New Zealand | $85,258,000 | +22.8% |
| 63. | Vietnam | $80,438,000 | +4.3% |
| 64. | Algeria | $78,161,000 | -23.7% |
| 65. | Estonia | $67,521,000 | +10.7% |
| 66. | Serbia | $65,934,000 | -5.1% |
| 67. | Oman | $65,599,000 | -59.9% |
| 68. | Qatar | $64,613,000 | -28.2% |
| 69. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $63,881,000 | +4.6% |
| 70. | Türkiye | $62,467,000 | +22.3% |
| 71. | Malta | $51,730,000 | +12.2% |
| 72. | Trinidad/Tobago | $51,705,000 | +0.8% |
| 73. | Peru | $48,601,000 | -18.4% |
| 74. | Moldova | $47,172,000 | +24% |
| 75. | Colombia | $44,197,000 | +1.6% |
| 76. | Mauritius | $41,701,000 | +11% |
| 77. | Honduras | $41,297,000 | 0% |
| 78. | Costa Rica | $41,141,000 | +20.9% |
| 79. | South Africa | $40,204,000 | -2% |
| 80. | Cuba | $39,663,000 | +8.2% |
| 81. | Jamaica | $36,453,000 | -10.5% |
| 82. | Azerbaijan | $35,878,000 | +8.3% |
| 83. | North Macedonia | $32,936,000 | +1.9% |
| 84. | Montenegro | $29,911,000 | +15.8% |
| 85. | Georgia | $29,230,000 | +40% |
| 86. | Albania | $27,434,000 | +1686% |
| 87. | New Caledonia | $24,648,000 | +19.6% |
| 88. | Bahamas | $24,455,000 | +17.6% |
| 89. | Uruguay | $19,519,000 | +24.4% |
| 90. | Maldives | $19,432,000 | -1.1% |
| 91. | French Polynesia | $18,259,000 | -18.5% |
| 92. | Yemen | $18,170,000 | -83% |
| 93. | Aruba | $18,048,000 | +5.1% |
| 94. | Barbados | $17,777,000 | -7.2% |
| 95. | Paraguay | $17,533,000 | -12.2% |
| 96. | Tunisia | $17,134,000 | -8.9% |
| 97. | Argentina | $16,746,000 | -28.6% |
| 98. | Curaçao | $16,732,000 | +6.5% |
| 99. | Andorra | $16,119,000 | +13.2% |
| 100. | Guyana | $15,988,000 | +32.9% |
Focusing on the top 100 most valuable cheese importers, the fastest increases belong to buyers in Albania (up 1,686% from 2022), Georgia (up 40%), Guyana (up 32.9%), Brazil (up 30.7%) then mainland China (up 25.8%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
Cheese Imports into Germany
Germany’s global purchases of imported cheese totaled US$5.64 billion in 2023. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Germany imported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2023. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2022 to 2023.
- Netherlands: US$1.6 billion (down -5.2% from 2022)
- France: $928.4 million (up 11.5%)
- Italy: $787 million (up 17.4%)
- Austria: $530.1 million (up 6.8%)
- Denmark: $445.6 million (down -0.04%)
- Switzerland: $381.6 million (up 4.1%)
- Greece: $277.5 million (up 24%)
- Ireland: $165.6 million (up 1.4%)
- Poland: $116.4 million (up 10%)
- Belgium: $108.6 million (up 2%)
- Latvia: $78.2 million (up 45.3%)
- Luxembourg: $58.1 million (up 4.6%)
- United Kingdom: $52.8 million (down -3.9%)
- Spain: $38.9 million (up 15.9%)
- Slovakia: $29.4 million (down -18.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.4% of cheese imported by Germany in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cheese to Germany since 2022 were: Latvia (up 45.3%), Greece (up 24%), Italy (up 17.4%) and Spain (up 15.9%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cheese supplied to German importers were: Slovakia (down -18.6% from 2022), Netherlands (down -5.2%) and the United Kingdom (down -3.9%).
Overall, the value of Germany’s imported cheese rose by an average 5.1% from all supplying countries since 2022 when cheese purchased cost $5.4 billion.
Cheese Imports into France
France’s global purchases of imported cheese totaled US$3 billion in 2023. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which France imported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2023. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2022 to 2023.
- Italy: US$1 billion (up 14.7% from 2022)
- Netherlands: $541.5 million (up 11.3%)
- Germany: $506.3 million (up 11.5%)
- United Kingdom: $195.8 million (up 5.4%)
- Belgium: $160.6 million (up 1.4%)
- Spain: $148.7 million (up 21.3%)
- Ireland: $106.8 million (up 1.5%)
- Greece: $85.7 million (up 38.9%)
- Switzerland: $67.9 million (up 4.6%)
- Denmark: $65.7 million (up 11.9%)
- Poland: $18.3 million (up 24.3%)
- Hungary: $10.6 million (up 16.2%)
- Austria: $8.03 million (down -17.7%)
- Luxembourg: $7.98 million (up 17%)
- Slovakia: $7 million (up 18.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.2% of cheese imported by France in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cheese to France since 2022 were: Greece (up 38.9%), Poland (up 24.3%), Spain (up 21.3%) and Slovakia (up 18.2%).
Austria was the lone provider to experience a decline in the value of its cheese supplied to French importers, retreating by -17.7% from 2022.
Overall, the value of France’s imported cheese increased by an average 11.7% from all supplying countries since 2022 when cheese purchased cost $2.7 billion.
Cheese Imports into Italy
Italy’s global purchases of imported cheese totaled US$2.82 billion in 2023. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Italy imported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2023. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2022 to 2023.
- Germany: US$1.2 billion (up 5.7% from 2022)
- Netherlands: $241.6 million (up 17.1%)
- France: $228.3 million (up 10.3%)
- Czech Republic: $191.8 million (up 30.6%)
- Belgium: $174.9 million (up 13.8%)
- Lithuania: $126.4 million (down -14.5%)
- Greece: $122.3 million (up 38.9%)
- Spain: $110.7 million (up 21.8%)
- Poland: $101.6 million (down -17.5%)
- Hungary: $68.3 million (up 20.1%)
- Switzerland: $65.8 million (down -3.9%)
- Austria: $59.7 million (up 2.2%)
- Denmark: $23.5 million (down -9.4%)
- Romania: $20.8 million (up 56.1%)
- United Kingdom: $20.6 million (up 59.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.7% of cheese imported by Italy in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cheese to Italy since 2022 were: United Kingdom (up 59.6%), Romania (up 56.1%), Greece (up 38.9%) and Czech Republic (up 30.6%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cheese supplied to Italian importers were: Poland (down -17.5% from 2022), Lithuania (down -14.5%), Denmark (down -9.4%) and Switzerland (down -3.9%).
Overall, the value of Italy’s imported cheese went up by an average 8.5% from all supplying countries since 2022 when cheese purchased cost $2.6 billion.
Cheese Imports into the United Kingdom
United Kingdom’s global purchases of imported cheese totaled US$2.47 billion in 2023. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the U.K. imported the highest dollar value worth of cheese during 2023. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2022 to 2023.
- Italy: US$411.3 million (up 7.2% from 2022)
- Ireland: $384.4 million (up 42.5%)
- France: $333.3 million (up 6.1%)
- Denmark: $256.8 million (up 17.8%)
- Germany: $234.1 million (up 6.6%)
- Cyprus: $163.4 million (down -6.1%)
- Netherlands: $162.5 million (down -4.2%)
- Greece: $118.7 million (up 9.3%)
- Belgium: $109.6 million (down -3.2%)
- Poland: $70.6 million (down -19.4%)
- Spain: $57.1 million (up 12.9%)
- Slovakia: $44.6 million (up 111%)
- Switzerland: $24.2 million (up 30%)
- Austria: $21.6 million (down -20.2%)
- Romania: $20.1 million (up 15.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.8% of cheese imported by the United Kingdom in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cheese to the UK since 2022 were: Slovakia (up 111%), Ireland (up 42.5%), Switzerland (up 30%) and Denmark (up 17.8%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cheese supplied to UK importers included: Austria (down -20.2% from 2022), Poland (down -19.4%), Cyprus (down -6.1%) and Netherlands (down -4.2%).
Overall, the value of United Kingdom’s imported cheese increased by an average 9.7% from all supplying countries since 2022 when cheese purchased cost $2.2 billion.
See also Cheese Exports by Country, Top Milk Imports by Country, Top Pasta Exporters by Country, Tomatoes Exports by Country and Onions Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on August 20, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 20, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 20, 2023
Wikipedia, Cheese. Accessed on August 20, 2023