Edible oil · ranking
The ten markets that spend the most on imported vegetable and animal fats and oils, ranked from UN Comtrade declarations. This page reads the table for a seller who wants to know where demand is.
| # | Market | Value | Volume | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $17.2B | — | 2024 |
| 2 | India | $16.8B | — | 2024 |
| 3 | China | $12.6B | — | 2024 |
| 4 | Netherlands | $8.6B | — | 2024 |
| 5 | Italy | $7.0B | — | 2024 |
| 6 | Spain | $5.8B | — | 2024 |
| 7 | Germany | $5.4B | — | 2024 |
| 8 | France | $3.7B | — | 2024 |
| 9 | Pakistan | $3.2B | — | 2024 |
| 10 | Belgium | $3.2B | — | 2024 |
Ranking is for the whole of HS chapter 15 (animal or vegetable fats and oils), reporter-declared, latest year available per market. Source: UN Comtrade.
First place goes to the United States at $17.2B, but India is only a fraction behind at $16.8B. China follows at $12.6B, and after that the table drops sharply to the Netherlands at $8.6B. That makes three heavyweight buyers followed by a pack of seven, and a seller could treat the first three as the core of the market.
The ten together represent 57.5% of the value declared by the 96 markets in the dataset. Pakistan and Belgium both show $3.2B at ninth and tenth, so their order is effectively a tie.
Some entries are large consuming economies that import oil for cooking and food manufacturing. Others, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, are trading and processing gateways where cargo may be refined, blended or moved on to other countries. The list does not distinguish between them, so a seller should not assume every dollar is consumed locally.
The scope is also broad. Chapter 15 groups soya-bean, ground nut, olive, palm, sunflower, rape and other oils with residual fats, and the ranking does not say which oil each market buys. A buyer in one country may want a very different product than a buyer in another, even though both sit in the same row of the table.
Pick the market and the heading that match what you sell, then search customs shipment records for it. Consignee names, declared values and origins show who buys regularly and from where, which helps you judge whether your oil type and price level would fit.
Before quoting, confirm the destination’s current import requirements, quality and labelling rules, payment terms and the delivery term you will use. Free listings on this site’s marketplace can also surface buyers who state what they need directly.
The United States is first at $17.2B in this ranking, with India close behind at $16.8B. Both figures are for the whole of HS chapter 15 and use each country's latest available year.
Between first and second it is small, $17.2B against $16.8B. The bigger break comes after China at $12.6B, since fourth place is $8.6B.
Not all. Trading and processing hubs may re-export or blend imported oil, so declared imports are not the same as domestic consumption. Use the list to locate trade flows, and check end use separately.
Search shipment records for the chapter 15 heading matching your oil, then read the consignee names, quantities and origin countries. Contact those buyers directly or through the free marketplace.
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