That dollar amount results from a 46.6% upturn in international wheat sales since 2019 when global wheat exports were valued at $40.4 billion.
From 2022 to 2023, the value of globally exported wheat fell by -13.3% compared to $68.3 billion one year earlier.
The 5 biggest wheat exporters (Russia, Australia, Canada, United States of America and France) provided over three-fifths (63.8%) of the overall value of international shipments for the nourishing cereal food.
From a continental perspective, European countries furnished just over half of worldwide wheat exports during 2023 with shipments amounting to $30 billion or 50.7% of total global sales. Home to two leading wheat-shipping neighbors (United States and Canada), North American exporters supplied another 25.4% worth of wheat sold on international markets.
Oceania (mostly Australia) was responsible for 15.8% of wheat exports by value, ahead of sellers in Asia at 4.5%. Smaller percentages came from exporters in Latin America (4.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Africa (0.3%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 1001 for wheat and meslin.
Top 15 Wheat Exporters by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of wheat during 2023.
- Russia: US$9.5 billion (16% of total wheat exports)
- Australia: $9.33 billion (15.8%)
- Canada: $8.8 billion (15%)
- United States: $6.1 billion (10.4%)
- France: $4 billion (6.7%)
- Ukraine: $2.9 billion (5%)
- Romania: $2.2 billion (3.8%)
- Poland: $2 billion (3.3%)
- Germany: $1.94 billion (3.3%)
- Kazakhstan: $1.85 billion (3.1%)
- Bulgaria: $1.7 billion (2.8%)
- Lithuania: $1 billion (1.8%)
- Argentina: $871.8 million (1.5%)
- Hungary: $827.6 million (1.4%)
- Czech Republic: $742 million (1.3%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 91% of globally exported wheat in 2023 by value.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing wheat suppliers from 2022 to 2023 were: Poland (up 40.5%), Bulgaria (up 15.8%), Hungary (up 15.6%) and Canada (up 11.3%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported wheat sales were led by: Argentina (down -72.1% from 2022), France (down -46.2%), United States of America (down -28%), Germany (down -12.3%) and Australia (down -8.4%).
To research other trends for global wheat exports, please see the section Searchable List of Wheat Exporting Countries in 2023 further down this article.
Countries Generating Highest Trade Surpluses from the Global Wheat Trade
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for wheat 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 wheat exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Russia: US$9.5 billion (net export surplus up 8.6% since 2022)
- Australia: $9.3 billion (down -8.4%)
- Canada: $8.8 billion (up 11.5%)
- United States of America: $5.2 billion (down -33%)
- France: $3.9 billion (down -46.5%)
- Ukraine: $2.9 billion (up 9.6%)
- Romania: $2 billion (up 14.1%)
- Poland: $1.8 billion (up 57.4%)
- Bulgaria: $1.7 billion (up 16%)
- Kazakhstan: $1.5 billion (down -5.8%)
- Lithuania: $943.2 million (down -2.5%)
- Argentina: $871.6 million (down -72.1%)
- Hungary: $761.8 million (up 34.7%)
- Czech Republic: $710.5 million (down -3.5%)
- Slovakia: $452.2 million (up 12.4%)
The Russian Federation and Australia garnered the highest surpluses in the international trade of wheat for 2023. The positive trade balances for wheat confirms Russia’s and Australia’s valuable competitive advantages for this important food product.
Countries Posting Greatest Trade Deficits from the Global Wheat Trade
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for wheat 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 wheat import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- mainland China: -US$4.3 billion (net export deficit up 13.8% since 2022)
- Egypt: -$3.77 billion (down -11.8%)
- Indonesia: -$3.76 billion (down -1.4%)
- Italy: -$3.1 billion (up 18.8%)
- Türkiye: -$2.81 billion (down -11.8%)
- Spain: -$2.79 billion (up 69.3%)
- Nigeria: -$2.04 billion (down -10.0%)
- Philippines: -$1.99 billion (down -22.8%)
- Japan: -$1.93 billion (down -23.4%)
- Morocco: -$1.91 billion (down -25.3%)
- Algeria: -$1.8 billion (down -31.3%)
- South Korea: -$1.7 billion (down -6.3%)
- Mexico: -$1.4 billion (down -8.1%)
- Thailand: -$1.33 billion (up 95.6%)
- Vietnam: -$1.3 billion (down -13.2%)
Highly populated mainland China and Egypt incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of wheat. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights the countries’ severe competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for wheat-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among each country’s consumers.
Major Wheat-Exporting Companies
Below are bulk wheat-supplying conglomerates that dominate the worldwide grain trade (73% of the global market in 2003, according to OXFAM researchers). Shown within parenthesis is the country where the company is headquartered.
- Cargill (United States)
- Archer Daniels Midland (United States)
- Bunge (United States)
- Louis Dreyfus (France)
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following companies are also examples of wheat-trading companies located in the country shown within parentheses.
- Tropolis (Canada)
- Pentarch (Australia)
- FENIL (Russia)
- SB Import & Export (Germany)
- Agro Resources International LLC (Ukraine)
- NUPUR International (India)
- Zaharni Zavodi – AD (Bulgaria)
Searchable List of Wheat Exporting Countries in 2023
The following database of 100 exporters shipped 100% of worldwide exported wheat during 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Wheat Exports (US$) | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Russia | $9,489,702,000 | +8.3% |
| 2. | Australia | $9,330,724,000 | -8.4% |
| 3. | Canada | $8,849,597,000 | +11.3% |
| 4. | United States | $6,133,433,000 | -28% |
| 5. | France | $3,983,219,000 | -46.2% |
| 6. | Ukraine | $2,940,949,000 | +9.8% |
| 7. | Romania | $2,227,737,000 | +6.1% |
| 8. | Poland | $1,961,752,000 | +40.5% |
| 9. | Germany | $1,937,720,000 | -12.3% |
| 10. | Kazakhstan | $1,852,686,000 | -3.5% |
| 11. | Bulgaria | $1,682,418,000 | +15.8% |
| 12. | Lithuania | $1,038,136,000 | +1.7% |
| 13. | Argentina | $871,790,000 | -72.1% |
| 14. | Hungary | $827,604,000 | +15.6% |
| 15. | Czech Republic | $742,009,000 | -2.6% |
| 16. | Türkiye | $733,974,000 | +321.3% |
| 17. | Brazil | $724,301,000 | -25.1% |
| 18. | Latvia | $620,185,000 | -34.8% |
| 19. | Slovakia | $464,306,000 | +9.4% |
| 20. | United Kingdom | $341,917,000 | +15.6% |
| 21. | Austria | $271,702,000 | -6.2% |
| 22. | Uruguay | $251,016,000 | +8% |
| 23. | Moldova | $223,764,000 | +285.1% |
| 24. | Greece | $200,807,000 | -8.8% |
| 25. | South Africa | $182,967,000 | -10% |
| 26. | Serbia | $154,928,000 | -40.5% |
| 27. | Estonia | $148,305,000 | -27.9% |
| 28. | Denmark | $142,023,000 | -14.6% |
| 29. | Croatia | $121,758,000 | -42.1% |
| 30. | Belgium | $100,767,000 | -36.4% |
| 31. | Sweden | $93,877,000 | -54.2% |
| 32. | Italy | $76,203,000 | -64.8% |
| 33. | Paraguay | $66,989,000 | -38% |
| 34. | Netherlands | $62,108,000 | -33.8% |
| 35. | India | $47,325,000 | -97.8% |
| 36. | Mexico | $47,034,000 | +29.7% |
| 37. | Spain | $44,441,000 | -76% |
| 38. | Slovenia | $27,590,000 | -3.1% |
| 39. | US Minor Outlying Is | $24,245,000 | 0% |
| 40. | United Arab Emirates | $21,347,000 | -61.6% |
| 41. | Finland | $17,865,000 | -14.8% |
| 42. | Syria | $17,289,000 | +15.1% |
| 43. | Portugal | $11,614,000 | +96.2% |
| 44. | Ireland | $10,274,000 | +9.4% |
| 45. | Luxembourg | $9,536,000 | +26.1% |
| 46. | maInland China | $8,911,000 | +201% |
| 47. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $6,802,000 | +44.4% |
| 48. | Egypt | $5,647,000 | +282250% |
| 49. | Mozambique | $5,490,000 | +491% |
| 50. | Kenya | $5,289,000 | +1321.8% |
| 51. | Eswatini | $5,165,000 | 0% |
| 52. | North Macedonia | $4,080,000 | +256.6% |
| 53. | Sri Lanka | $3,837,000 | -28.1% |
| 54. | Malta | $2,526,000 | 0% |
| 55. | New Zealand | $1,928,000 | +384.4% |
| 56. | Zambia | $1,234,000 | +4013% |
| 57. | Colombia | $583,000 | 0% |
| 58. | Israel | $507,000 | +299.2% |
| 59. | Uzbekistan | $443,000 | -70.6% |
| 60. | Burkina Faso | $431,000 | +239.4% |
| 61. | Belarus | $427,000 | -98.7% |
| 62. | Malaysia | $406,000 | -0.7% |
| 63. | Iraq | $328,000 | -99% |
| 64. | Switzerland | $287,000 | +143.2% |
| 65. | Dominican Republic | $262,000 | -38.6% |
| 66. | Guatemala | $244,000 | +24300% |
| 67. | Botswana | $233,000 | +870.8% |
| 68. | Tanzania | $223,000 | -88% |
| 69. | Peru | $161,000 | +17.5% |
| 70. | El Salvador | $161,000 | -89% |
| 71. | Oman | $134,000 | -99.6% |
| 72. | Lebanon | $126,000 | -93.9% |
| 73. | Zimbabwe | $120,000 | +700% |
| 74. | Albania | $100,000 | 0% |
| 75. | Taiwan | $82,000 | +446.7% |
| 76. | Armenia | $78,000 | -89.3% |
| 77. | Chile | $65,000 | -14.5% |
| 78. | Jordan | $61,000 | 0% |
| 79. | Curaçao | $51,000 | 0% |
| 80. | Singapore | $45,000 | +221.4% |
| 81. | Mauritius | $38,000 | 0% |
| 82. | Senegal | $33,000 | -99.6% |
| 83. | Thailand | $33,000 | -15.4% |
| 84. | Palestine | $20,000 | -91.1% |
| 85. | Algeria | $20,000 | -81.7% |
| 86. | Norway | $13,000 | +30% |
| 87. | Seychelles | $11,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Georgia | $11,000 | 0% |
| 89. | Vietnam | $9,000 | -99.9% |
| 90. | Iran | $7,000 | +16.7% |
| 91. | Angola | $5,000 | +150% |
| 92. | Nicaragua | $5,000 | 0% |
| 93 | Bangladesh | $2,000 | -50% |
| 94 | South Korea | $2,000 | 0% |
| 95 | Indonesia | $1,000 | 0% |
| 96 | Hong Kong | $1,000 | 0% |
| 97 | Ghana | $1,000 | 0% |
| 98 | Cyprus | $1,000 | 0% |
| 99 | Japan | $1,000 | 0% |
| 100 | Nepal | $1,000 | 0% |
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 value of exported wheat in 2023 compared to 2022. (An entry of 0% under that column means that 2022 data was unavailable.)
Related Read: Average Wheat Prices Compared for Biggest Wheat Export Countries
See also Average Wheat Prices Compared for Biggest Wheat Export Countries, Wheat Imports by Country, America’s Top Trading Partners, Corn Exports by Country and Barley Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier information for wheat. Accessed on June 27, 2024
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on June 27, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 27, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 27, 2024
OXFAM Research Reports (August 2019) pp 9-10, Cereal Secrets. Accessed on June 27, 2024