Overall, the value of motorcycles exported by all countries rose by an average 40.9% for all exporting countries compared to five years earlier in 2019 when motorcycle shipments were valued at $30 billion.
Year over year, the value of exported motorcycles fell by -2.5% from $43.3 billion starting in 2022.
The 5 biggest exporters of motorcycles are mainland China, Germany, Japan, Thailand and India. Collectively, those 5 major motorcycle exporters generated almost three-fifths (57.3%) of the total value for international motorcycle sales in 2023.
Among continents, countries in Asia sold the highest dollar worth of exported motorcycles during 2023 with shipments valued at $24.9 billion or 58.9% of the global total. In second place were European exporters at 37.5% while another 2.8% of worldwide motorcycle shipments originated from North America.
Tinier percentages came from suppliers in Latin America (0.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (0.3%) and Oceania (0.1%) mostly Australia and New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 8711 for motorcycles including mopeds and cycles fitted with an auxiliary motor. This includes motorcycles with or without side-cars.
Motorcycle Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of motorcycles during 2023.
- mainland China: US$11.6 billion (27.4% of total exported motorcycles)
- Germany: $3.6 billion (8.5%)
- Japan: $3.5 billion (8.3%)
- Thailand: $2.9 billion (6.9%)
- India: $2.62 billion (6.2%)
- Austria: $2.61 billion (6.2%)
- Italy: $2.52 billion (6%)
- Netherlands: $1.7 billion (4.1%)
- Taiwan: $1.4 billion (3.3%)
- Vietnam: $1.3 billion (3.2%)
- Indonesia: $1.2 billion (2.9%)
- Belgium: $1.1 billion (2.6%)
- United States: $795.7 million (1.9%)
- France: $691.2 million (1.6%)
- Hungary: $637 million (1.5%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 90.5% of globally exported motorcycles in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of motorcycles since 2022 were: Hungary (up 23%), Japan (up 10.6%), Austria (up 8.7%) and the United States of America (up 8.5%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported motorcycles sales were led by: Taiwan (down -23% from 2022), Indonesia (down -21%), Netherlands (down -15.6%), India (down -10.6%) and Vietnam (down -9.9%).
Searchable List of Motorcycle Exporting Countries in 2023
The top 100 countries in the automated database below account for 99.997% of the overall international sales of motorcycles in 2023.
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2022 data is available.
| Rank | Exporter | Motorcycle Exports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | mainland China | $11,590,892,000 | -3.1% |
| 2. | Germany | $3,571,827,000 | +5.7% |
| 3. | Japan | $3,509,633,000 | +10.6% |
| 4. | Thailand | $2,894,940,000 | -2.9% |
| 5. | India | $2,616,663,000 | -10.6% |
| 6. | Austria | $2,606,899,000 | +8.7% |
| 7. | Italy | $2,521,486,000 | +3.7% |
| 8. | Netherlands | $1,714,742,000 | -15.6% |
| 9. | Taiwan | $1,398,518,000 | -23% |
| 10. | Vietnam | $1,333,943,000 | -9.9% |
| 11. | Indonesia | $1,225,617,000 | -21% |
| 12. | Belgium | $1,118,983,000 | -0.1% |
| 13. | United States | $795,664,000 | +8.5% |
| 14. | France | $691,231,000 | +7.6% |
| 15. | Hungary | $637,036,000 | +23% |
| 16. | Spain | $566,858,000 | +4.2% |
| 17. | Bulgaria | $438,578,000 | -7.2% |
| 18. | Czech Republic | $400,487,000 | +7.9% |
| 19. | Portugal | $311,468,000 | +7.4% |
| 20. | Canada | $281,595,000 | +4.7% |
| 21. | Poland | $267,433,000 | -22.2% |
| 22. | Romania | $219,750,000 | +51.1% |
| 23. | Switzerland | $211,792,000 | -14.7% |
| 24. | Lithuania | $134,513,000 | +37.2% |
| 25. | Brazil | $125,425,000 | -16.3% |
| 26. | Mexico | $113,938,000 | -28.8% |
| 27. | Slovakia | $81,202,000 | -0.4% |
| 28. | United Kingdom | $79,743,000 | -4.2% |
| 29. | Cambodia | $73,517,000 | +9.7% |
| 30. | Sweden | $56,934,000 | -11.5% |
| 31. | Türkiye | $45,031,000 | -40.5% |
| 32. | Togo | $40,776,000 | -27.6% |
| 33. | Denmark | $35,866,000 | -34.8% |
| 34. | Uganda | $34,907,000 | -3.9% |
| 35. | Panama | $33,980,000 | -16.5% |
| 36. | Singapore | $32,679,000 | -9.4% |
| 37. | Slovenia | $30,350,000 | +0% |
| 38. | Finland | $30,177,000 | -62% |
| 39. | Hong Kong | $27,044,000 | -19.7% |
| 40. | South Africa | $25,984,000 | +4.3% |
| 41. | Djibouti | $25,771,000 | +75.3% |
| 42. | Philippines | $25,533,000 | +49.9% |
| 43. | Australia | $22,470,000 | +12.4% |
| 44. | Pakistan | $18,216,000 | +120.5% |
| 45. | South Korea | $17,757,000 | +30.1% |
| 46. | Colombia | $16,412,000 | +36% |
| 47. | Greece | $16,347,000 | +20.5% |
| 48. | Estonia | $13,186,000 | -20.3% |
| 49. | Croatia | $12,089,000 | -19.8% |
| 50. | Norway | $11,587,000 | -9.4% |
| 51. | Serbia | $8,668,000 | +26.8% |
| 52. | Malaysia | $8,601,000 | -27.8% |
| 53. | Russia | $8,352,000 | -7.4% |
| 54. | Latvia | $8,109,000 | -10.5% |
| 55. | Kenya | $8,038,000 | +258.8% |
| 56. | United Arab Emirates | $7,822,000 | -74.3% |
| 57. | Kazakhstan | $7,436,000 | +42.3% |
| 58. | Oman | $5,750,000 | +211.1% |
| 59. | Sri Lanka | $5,082,000 | -57.2% |
| 60. | Luxembourg | $4,355,000 | -18.6% |
| 61. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $4,277,000 | +23661% |
| 62. | New Zealand | $3,931,000 | +187.1% |
| 63. | Chile | $3,692,000 | +30% |
| 64. | Guatemala | $3,470,000 | -70.2% |
| 65. | Armenia | $3,252,000 | +28.9% |
| 66. | Ireland | $2,881,000 | -25.1% |
| 67. | Kyrgyzstan | $1,441,000 | +429.8% |
| 68. | Bangladesh | $1,242,000 | +182.3% |
| 69. | Andorra | $1,218,000 | -61.3% |
| 70. | Cyprus | $1,143,000 | +495.3% |
| 71. | Israel | $1,116,000 | +387.3% |
| 72. | Rwanda | $1,071,000 | +2334% |
| 73. | Costa Rica | $1,013,000 | +1926% |
| 74. | Eswatini | $975,000 | -4.4% |
| 75. | Grenada | $960,000 | +256.9% |
| 76. | Benin | $883,000 | -12.4% |
| 77. | Honduras | $790,000 | 0% |
| 78. | Bolivia | $710,000 | +1083% |
| 79. | Senegal | $666,000 | -5% |
| 80. | North Macedonia | $610,000 | +148% |
| 81. | Macao | $601,000 | +113.9% |
| 82. | Bahrain | $592,000 | -11% |
| 83. | Ghana | $543,000 | +356.3% |
| 84. | Montenegro | $541,000 | +1027% |
| 85. | Morocco | $535,000 | +723.1% |
| 86. | Mauritius | $535,000 | 0% |
| 87. | Tanzania | $476,000 | -30.9% |
| 88. | Saint Lucia | $453,000 | +216.8% |
| 89. | Egypt | $409,000 | -43% |
| 90. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $406,000 | -18.6% |
| 91. | Mali | $367,000 | -61% |
| 92. | Ukraine | $357,000 | -40.6% |
| 93. | Belarus | $350,000 | -32.2% |
| 94. | Guinea | $331,000 | +110.8% |
| 95. | Azerbaijan | $290,000 | +1350% |
| 96. | Jordan | $271,000 | +942.3% |
| 97. | Uzbekistan | $251,000 | +25000% |
| 98. | Saudi Arabia | $237,000 | -95% |
| 99. | Nauru | $216,000 | -46.3% |
| 100. | Georgia | $211,000 | +43.5% |
Drilling down on the international sales for these top 100 exporters, 49 increased the value of motorcycles exported from 2022 to 2023.
Year over year, the fastest percentage gains for selling exported motorcycles belong to suppliers in Uzbekistan (up 25,000% from 2022), Bosnia and Herzegovina (up 23,661%), Rwanda (up 2,334%), Costa Rica (up 1,926%), Azerbaijan (up 1,350%) and Bolivia (up 1,083%).
Countries Generating Largest Trade Surpluses for Motorcycles
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for motorcycles 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 motorcycles and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- mainland China: US$10.7 billion (net export surplus down -1.2% since 2022)
- India: $2.54 billion (down -11.6%)
- Japan: $2.46 billion (up 10.7%)
- Thailand: $2.42 billion (down -6.8%)
- Austria: $1.6 billion (up 8.4%)
- Taiwan: $1.2 billion (down -26.5%)
- Vietnam: $1.1 billion (down -12.8%)
- Indonesia: $1 billion (down -25.1%)
- Italy: $853.3 million (up 0.2%)
- Hungary: $517.7 million (up 28.8%)
- Netherlands: $409.3 million (up 2.5%)
- Bulgaria: $398.8 million (down -8.3%)
- Germany: $337.4 million (up 445.8%)
- Romania: $121.8 million (up 123.2%)
- Czech Republic: $102.7 million (up 54.8%)
Mainland China earned the highest surplus in the international trade of motorcycles. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Chinese competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Countries Facing Worst Trade Deficits for Motorcycles
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for motorcycles 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 motorcycle purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$3.5 billion (net export deficit down -21.4% since 2022)
- Philippines: -$1.66 billion (down -10.1%)
- France: -$1.63 billion (down -6.1%)
- Gambia: -$1.56 billion (up 58477.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$1.1 billion (down -1%)
- Spain: -$801.4 million (up 11.6%)
- Australia: -$695.4 million (down -17.4%)
- Türkiye: -$639 million (up 197.1%)
- Switzerland: -$608.4 million (up 2.9%)
- Canada: -$510.9 million (down -25.6%)
- Argentina: -$487.8 million (up 9.1%)
- Mexico: -$455.5 million (up 19.1%)
- Nigeria: -$455 million (down -19.2%)
- South Korea: -$435.2 million (down -25%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$360.3 million (up 334.2%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of motorcycles during 2023. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for motorcycle-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Motorcycle Exporting Companies
Below are global motorcycle makers that represent established players engaged in the international motorcycle trade. The home country for each company’s headquarters are shown within parenthesis.
- Bajaj Auto (India)
- Baotian Motorcycle Company (China)
- BMW Motorrad (Germany)
- Ducati (Italy)
- Harley-Davidson (United States)
- Honda (Japan)
- Indian (United States)
- Janus Motorcycles (United States)
- Kawasawki (Japan)
- Suzuki (Japan)
- Yamaha (Japan)
- Zero Electric Motorcycles (United States)
See also Top Electric Cars Exports by Country, Car Exports by Country, Truck Exports by Country and Bicycles Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on August 16, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 16, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 16, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 16, 2024
Wikipedia, List of motorcycle manufacturers. Accessed on August 16, 2024