Product Profile – Yogurt

Worldwide sales for yogurt exports by country totalled US$2.4 billion in 2018. The overall value of yogurt exports increased by an average 3.8% for all exporting countries since 2013 when yogurt shipments were valued at $2.28 billion.

From 2017 to 2018, the value of globally exported yogurt improved by 2.6%.

Among continents, European countries generated the strongest international sales for exported yogurt during 2017 with shipments valued at $1.9 billion or more than three-quarters (79.3%) of the global total.

In second place were Asian exporters at 12.7% while 3.7% of worldwide yogurt shipments originated from North America. Smaller percentages came from Africa (2.3%), Oceania mostly Australia and New Zealand (1%) and Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (also 1%).

The 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 040310 for yogurt including plain and sweetened versions.

Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of yogurt during 2018.

1. Germany: US$573.6 million (23.6% of total exported yogurt)
2. France: $308 million (12.7%)
3. Saudi Arabia: $208.1 million (8.6%)
4. Greece: $155.4 million (6.4%)
5. Austria: $133.7 million (5.5%)
6. Spain: $110.8 million (4.6%)
7. United Kingdom: $70.1 million (2.9%)
8. Poland: $68 million (2.8%)
9. Czech Republic: $55.3 million (2.3%)
10. Thailand: $54.7 million (2.3%)
11. Netherlands: $49.4 million (2%)
12. Belgium: $47.9 million (2%)
13. United States: $47.1 million (1.9%)
14. South Africa: $44.7 million (1.8%)
15. Luxembourg: $36.8 million (1.5%)

By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 80.8% of global yogurt exports in 2018.

Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing yogurt exporters since 2013 were: Netherlands (up 203.9%), Luxembourg (up 122.6%), Greece (up 42.1%) and Thailand (up 39.7%).

Those countries that posted declines in their exported yogurt sales were led by: France (down -31.5%), Austria (down -30.8%), Czech Republic (down -20.7%), Belgium (down -20.2%) and Spain (down -19.5%).

Opportunities

The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for yogurt during 2018. 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 yogurt purchases and its exports for that same commodity.

1. Italy: -US$246.9 million (net export deficit up 0.8% since 2013)
2. United Kingdom: -$171.1 million (up 5.3%)
3. Portugal: -$109.5 million (down -29.8%)
4. Sweden: -$107.5 million (down -17.8%)
5. Belgium: -$94.6 million (up 3.4%)
6. Netherlands: -$79.8 million (down -3.9%)
7. Spain: -$79.2 million (down -56.7%)
8. United Arab Emirates: -$61 million (down -14.6%)
9. Oman: -$55.6 million (up 36.5%)
10. China: -$53.1 million (up 330.3%)
11. Kuwait: -$44.4 million (up 983.8%)
12. Hungary: -$37.5 million (up 131.4%)
13. Singapore: -$34.5 million (up 40.4%)
14. Hong Kong: -$26 million (up 56.5%)
15. Angola: -$25.6 million (down -41.2%)

Italy incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of yogurt. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Italy’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for yogurt-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.