The worldwide value of exported headphones fell by an average -4.4% for all exporting countries since 5 years earlier in 2019 when exported headphone shipments were valued at $14.4 billion.
Year over year, international sales of exported headphones dropped by -8.7% compared to $13.8 billion starting from 2022.
The world’s 3 most lucrative suppliers of headphones on global markets are mainland China, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Collectively, that trio of leading exporters accounted for over two-fifths (41%) of all exported headphone sales in 2023.
Applying a continental perspective, countries in Asia sold the highest international sales for exported headphones during 2023 with shipments valued at $7.5 billion or over half (54.2%) of the global total. In second place were exporters in Europe at 35.3% while another 9.7% of worldwide headphones shipped from North America.
Tinier percentages came from sellers in Latin America (0.33%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (also 0.33%) led by Australia and New Zealand, then Africa (0.1%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 851830 for headphones or earphones including combined microphone/speaker sets.
Headphones Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of headphones during 2023.
- mainland China: US$3.7 billion (26.7% of total headphones exports)
- Germany: $1 billion (7.3%)
- United Arab Emirates: $960.2 million (7%)
- United States: $946.6 million (6.9%)
- Hong Kong: $914.1 million (6.6%)
- Netherlands: $777.2 million (5.6%)
- Vietnam: $542.8 million (3.9%)
- Malaysia: $506.5 million (3.7%)
- Czech Republic: $473.7 million (3.4%)
- Italy: $376.8 million (2.7%)
- Singapore: $375.5 million (2.7%)
- Mexico: $351.7 million (2.5%)
- Belgium: $342 million (2.5%)
- Sweden: $325.1 million (2.4%)
- Denmark: $232 million (1.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 85.7% of globally exported headphones in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of headphones since 2019 were: Netherlands (up 114.9%), Singapore (up 61.6%), Italy (up 58.9%) and Germany (up 57.3%).
Listed suppliers that posted declines in their international sales of headphones over the 5-year period were: Vietnam (down -70.3%), Hong Kong, (down -65.5%), Belgium (down -18.8%) and Malaysia (down -13.7%).
Countries Enjoying Best Trade Surpluses from Headphones
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for headphones during 2023. 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 headphones and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- mainland China: US$3.3 billion (net export surplus up 149.7% since 2019)
- Vietnam: $518.1 million (down -70.6%)
- Malaysia: $453.2 million (down -2.8%)
- Hong Kong: $423.1 million (down -42.8%)
- Netherlands: $194.4 million (reversing a -$81.4 million deficit)
- Czech Republic: $50.6 million (down -6.8%)
- Hungary: $39.2 million (reversing a -$26.5 million deficit)
- Philippines: $7 million (reversing an -$11.6 million deficit)
- Myanmar: $1.2 million (reversing a -$671,000 deficit)
- Panama: $927,000 (reversing an -$4.5 million deficit)
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands: $77,000 (2022 data unavailable)
- North Korea: $25,000 (up 177.8%)
- Pitcairn: $1,000 (down -75%)
Mainland China earned the highest surplus in the international trade of headphones. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Chinese competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Countries Facing Worst Trade Deficits from Headphones
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for headphones during 2023. 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 headphones purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$5.8 billion (net export deficit up 507% since 2019)
- Japan: -$1 billion (up 56%)
- Canada: -$753.1 million (up 73.4%)
- India: -$611.7 million (up 129.2%)
- Australia: -$596.1 million (up 70%)
- France: -$498.1 million (up 43.7%)
- United Kingdom: -$415.4 million (up 1.5%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$343.2 million (up 1,091%)
- Germany: -$341.4 million (up 26.9%)
- Taiwan: -$224 million (up 335%)
- Norway: -$164.3 million (up 32.8%)
- South Korea: -$147.4 million (down -29.3%)
- Spain: -$141.6 million (up 35.4%)
- Switzerland: -$132.3 million (up 73.1%)
- Israel: -$131 million (up 110.6%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of headphones. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for headphones-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Headphones Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers design or manufacture audio products including headphones. Shown within parenthesis is the city and corresponding country where the headquarters for each business is located.
- Beats Electronics (Culver City, United States)
- Beyerdynamic (Heilbronn, Germany)
- Bose Corporation (Framingham, United States)
- Edifier (Beijing, China)
- Encore Data Products (Lafayette, United States)
- HiFiMAN Electronics (Tianjin, China)
- KEF (Maidstone, England)
- Koninklijke Philips NV (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
- Thinksound (Somersworth, United States)
- Ultrasone (Tutzing, Germany)
See also Cellphone Exports by Country, Top Video Games Exports by Country, Lithium Ion Batteries Exports by Country and Sheet Music Exporting Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on December 9, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on December 9, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on December 9, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on December 9, 2024
Wikipedia, List of headphone manufacturers. Accessed on December 9, 2024
