The overall value of pork exports increased by an average 9.7% for all exporting countries since 2019 when pork shipments were valued at $32.9 billion.
Year over year, revenues from pork exports rose 6.6% starting from $33.8 billion during 2022.
As was the case in 2022, the 5 major exporters of pork in 2023 were Spain, United States of America, Germany, Netherlands and Canada. Collectively, that handful of leading suppliers provided over three-fifths (61.8%) of globally exported pork.
From a continental perspective, $22.9 billion or 63.4% worth of all pork exports originated from suppliers in Europe. In second place were exporters in North America accounting for 26.3%.
Smaller percentages came from Latin America (9%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Asia (0.8%), Oceania (0.4%) mostly Australia, then Africa (0.1%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0203 for fresh, chilled or frozen swine meat.
Pork Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2023.
- Spain: US$6.8 billion (18.8% of total pork exports)
- United States: $6 billion (16.8%)
- Germany: $4.1 billion (11.4%)
- Netherlands: $3.1 billion (8.5%)
- Canada: $2.7 billion (7.4%)
- Brazil: $2.63 billion (7.3%)
- Denmark: $2.62 billion (7.3%)
- Belgium: $1.7 billion (4.7%)
- France: $1.2 billion (3.3%)
- Poland: $891.5 million (2.5%)
- Mexico: $749.3 million (2.1%)
- Chile: $595 million (1.6%)
- Austria: $504.8 million (1.4%)
- Hungary: $494.2 million (1.4%)
- Ireland: $398.2 million (1.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 95.5% of globally exported pork in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing pork exporters from 2022 to 2023 were: Austria (up 21.5%), Belgium (up 18.8%), Hungary (up 17.4%) and Spain (up 14.2%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported pork sales were: Ireland (down -18.2% from 2022), Mexico (down -9.7%), Canada (down -8.9%), Chile (down -8.5%) and Denmark (down -4.8%).
Countries Collecting Largest Trade Surpluses from Pork
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for pork 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 pork exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Spain: US$6.5 billion (net export surplus up 14.2% since 2022)
- United States of America: $4.7 billion (up 29.8%)
- Brazil: $2.6 billion (up 9.3%)
- Denmark: $2.4 billion (down -5.9%)
- Netherlands: $2.24 billion (up 14.3%)
- Germany: $2.21 billion (down -2.2%)
- Canada: $2.1 billion (down -11.3%)
- Belgium: $1.4 billion (up 17.2%)
- Chile: $320.7 million (down -22%)
- Ireland: $258.6 million (down -25.1%)
- France: $185.4 million (down -25%)
- Russia: $80.1 million (down -23.2%)
- Hungary: $37.7 million (down -31.3%)
- Finland: $22.8 million (down -48.7%)
- Austria: $21.7 million (down -70.9%)
World leader Spain generated the highest surplus in the international trade of pork. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Spain’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Searchable List of Pork Exporting Countries
The 107 countries that exported pork in 2023 are showcased in the following database.
| Rank | Exporter | Pork Exports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Spain | $6,765,823,000 | +14.2% |
| 2. | United States | $6,048,814,000 | +11.2% |
| 3. | Germany | $4,120,896,000 | +7.8% |
| 4. | Netherlands | $3,055,570,000 | +12.4% |
| 5. | Canada | $2,671,937,000 | -8.9% |
| 6. | Brazil | $2,630,911,000 | +9.3% |
| 7. | Denmark | $2,623,336,000 | -4.8% |
| 8. | Belgium | $1,697,936,000 | +18.8% |
| 9. | France | $1,182,245,000 | +13.1% |
| 10. | Poland | $891,488,000 | +4.1% |
| 11. | Mexico | $749,269,000 | -9.7% |
| 12. | Chile | $594,981,000 | -8.5% |
| 13. | Austria | $504,848,000 | +21.5% |
| 14. | Hungary | $494,226,000 | +17.4% |
| 15. | Ireland | $398,249,000 | -18.2% |
| 16. | United Kingdom | $348,952,000 | -14% |
| 17. | Italy | $138,966,000 | -13.6% |
| 18. | Australia | $137,134,000 | +67.7% |
| 19. | China | $115,613,000 | -23.2% |
| 20. | Czech Republic | $97,585,000 | +18.6% |
| 21. | Portugal | $87,304,000 | +4.9% |
| 22. | Russia | $84,596,000 | -36.7% |
| 23. | Finland | $81,685,000 | -16.6% |
| 24. | Vietnam | $63,303,000 | +25.4% |
| 25. | Hong Kong | $61,330,000 | +11.2% |
| 26. | Sweden | $60,623,000 | +15.8% |
| 27. | Estonia | $41,528,000 | +25.5% |
| 28. | Croatia | $34,649,000 | -8.5% |
| 29. | Slovakia | $34,275,000 | -7% |
| 30. | Singapore | $31,211,000 | -3.6% |
| 31. | South Africa | $24,401,000 | +10.3% |
| 32. | Lithuania | $23,650,000 | +20.2% |
| 33. | Bulgaria | $22,973,000 | +20.1% |
| 34. | Paraguay | $18,481,000 | +254% |
| 35. | Slovenia | $16,388,000 | +3.5% |
| 36. | Switzerland | $14,797,000 | +124.2% |
| 37. | Japan | $14,748,000 | +2.4% |
| 38. | Luxembourg | $13,452,000 | +10.4% |
| 39. | Greece | $13,089,000 | +0.6% |
| 40. | Norway | $11,172,000 | +11.8% |
| 41. | Thailand | $7,411,000 | +37.4% |
| 42. | Türkiye | $3,991,000 | +22.4% |
| 43. | Romania | $3,811,000 | +28% |
| 44. | New Zealand | $2,844,000 | +40.7% |
| 45. | Ukraine | $2,642,000 | +392.9% |
| 46. | Malaysia | $2,573,000 | +18% |
| 47. | Cyprus | $2,494,000 | -71.6% |
| 48. | United Arab Emirates | $2,366,000 | +324.8% |
| 49. | South Korea | $1,801,000 | -17.5% |
| 50. | Serbia | $1,596,000 | -45.3% |
| 51. | Montenegro | $1,411,000 | -12.7% |
| 52. | Kenya | $996,000 | +21.9% |
| 53. | Suriname | $984,000 | +265.8% |
| 54. | Namibia | $870,000 | -44.8% |
| 55. | Colombia | $864,000 | +6071% |
| 56. | Botswana | $601,000 | +341.9% |
| 57. | Iran | $591,000 | 0% |
| 58. | Trinidad/Tobago | $511,000 | +78% |
| 59. | Argentina | $481,000 | +807.5% |
| 60. | Zambia | $465,000 | -69.4% |
| 61. | Belarus | $435,000 | +579.7% |
| 62. | Taiwan | $357,000 | +36.3% |
| 63. | Panama | $291,000 | -27.4% |
| 64. | Costa Rica | $193,000 | -81.9% |
| 65. | Curaçao | $173,000 | +8550% |
| 66. | Djibouti | $151,000 | -75.6% |
| 67. | Kazakhstan | $128,000 | 0% |
| 68. | Sri Lanka | $103,000 | -31.3% |
| 69. | El Salvador | $83,000 | -35.2% |
| 70. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $82,000 | -92.3% |
| 71. | Bahrain | $79,000 | +17.9% |
| 72. | Tanzania | $65,000 | -31.6% |
| 73. | Lebanon | $58,000 | +241.2% |
| 74. | Mozambique | $47,000 | +95.8% |
| 75. | Democratic Rep. Congo | $41,000 | -40.6% |
| 76. | Guatemala | $40,000 | +17.6% |
| 77. | Morocco | $33,000 | -26.7% |
| 78. | Philippines | $33,000 | 0% |
| 79. | Saudi Arabia | $32,000 | 0% |
| 80. | Honduras | $30,000 | 0% |
| 81. | Angola | $30,000 | +2900% |
| 82. | Fiji | $26,000 | -67.1% |
| 83. | Ivory Coast | $20,000 | -20% |
| 84. | Peru | $14,000 | +133.3% |
| 85. | Andorra | $13,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Dominican Republic | $12,000 | +71.4% |
| 87. | Samoa | $11,000 | -67.6% |
| 88. | Gabon | $10,000 | +900% |
| 89. | Eswatini | $9,000 | +80% |
| 90. | Mauritius | $8,000 | 0% |
| 91. | Bermuda | $8,000 | +166.7% |
| 92. | American Samoa | $7,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Faroe Islands | $7,000 | 0% |
| 94. | Georgia | $5,000 | 0% |
| 95. | Aruba | $4,000 | 0% |
| 96. | Uganda | $4,000 | -87.5% |
| 97. | Senegal | $2,000 | -71.4% |
| 98. | Iceland | $2,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Uzbekistan | $2,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Indonesia | $1,000 | 0% |
| 101. | Gibraltar | $1,000 | 0% |
| 102. | Brunei Darussalam | $1,000 | 0% |
| 103. | Cayman Islands | $1,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Saint Lucia | $1,000 | 0% |
| 105. | St Maarten (Dutch) | $1,000 | 0% |
| 106. | Qatar | $1,000 | 0% |
| 107. | Moldova | $1,000 | -75% |
Widening the scope to all pork suppliers, the greatest percentage increases belong to exporters in Curaçao (up 8,550% from 2022), Colombia (up 6,071%), Angola (up 2,900%), Gabon (up 900%) and Argentina (up 807.5%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the above columns.
The right-most column highlights the percentage change in the overall value of globally exported pork from 2022 to 2023.
An entry of 0% in that column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
Countries Causing Worst Trade Deficits from Pork
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for pork 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 pork import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$3.9 billion (net export deficit down -7.3% since 2020)
- mainland China: -$3.4 billion (down -8.7%)
- Italy: -$3.1 billion (up 42.5%)
- Mexico: -$2 billion (up 11.3%)
- South Korea: -$1.9 billion (down -5.7%)
- Romania: -$1.15 billion (up 32.2%)
- Poland: -$1.12 billion (up 36.2%)
- Czech Republic: -$906.4 million (up 27.7%)
- United Kingdom: -$851.2 million (up 72.1%)
- Greece: -$696 million (up 30.6%)
- Hong Kong: -$585.2 million (up 4.2%)
- Philippines: -$481.3 million (down -23.5%)
- Slovakia: -$446.4 million (up 23.7%)
- Bulgaria: -$381.9 million (up 38.2%)
- Australia: -$347.9 million (down -21.1%)
Highly populated Japan and China incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of pork. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights both Asian nations’ competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for pork-supplying countries that help satisfy their powerful consumer demand for that specific commodity.
Top Global Pork Processing Companies
According to the Meat Atlas report (Der Fleischatlas), the following companies lead in worldwide meat sales including pork.
- JBS SA (Brazil)
- Tyson Food (United States)
- Cargill (Argentina)
- BRF (Brazil)
- Vion Food Group (Netherlands)
- Nippon Meat Packers (Japan)
- Smithfield Foods (United States, America’s largest pork producer)
- Marfrig Alimentos SA (Brazil)
- Danish Crown AmbA (Denmark, world’s biggest pork exporter)
- Hormel Foods (United States)
See also Pork Imports by Country, Big Export Sales for Frozen Shrimps, Top Beef Exporting Countries, Chicken Exports by Country and Top Goat Meat Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 30, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 30, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 30, 2024
2019 Meat Atlas, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin, Germany, and Friends of the Earth Europe, Brussels, Belgium. Accessed on July 30, 2024