Spices · ranking
A ranking that needs careful reading: spices share their customs chapter with coffee, tea and mate, so the numbers are a wider signal than pepper or cardamom alone.
| # | Market | Value | Volume | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | $11.8B | — | 2024 |
| 2 | India | $5.2B | — | 2024 |
| 3 | Vietnam | $4.7B | — | 2023 |
| 4 | Germany | $4.5B | — | 2024 |
| 5 | Switzerland | $3.9B | — | 2024 |
| 6 | China | $3.6B | — | 2024 |
| 7 | Colombia | $3.6B | — | 2024 |
| 8 | Italy | $3.0B | — | 2024 |
| 9 | Indonesia | $2.7B | — | 2024 |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | $1.8B | — | 2024 |
Ranking is for the whole of HS chapter 09 (coffee, tea, mate and spices), reporter-declared, latest year available per market. Source: UN Comtrade.
Spices are declared under HS chapter 09, which also holds coffee, tea and mate. The table reflects all of it. Only headings 0904 to 0910 are spices, and they cover pepper and chilli, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg with mace and cardamom, seeds such as cumin and coriander, and a final heading for ginger, saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves and curry.
Because the beverage lines are usually far larger in value, a country can sit near the top mainly through coffee or tea. Read the ranking as the leading sellers across the whole chapter, and treat spice rank as something to be confirmed heading by heading.
Brazil leads at $11.8B, with India second at $5.2B and Vietnam third at $4.7B. Germany reports $4.5B, Switzerland $3.9B, China $3.6B and Colombia $3.6B. Italy follows at $3.0B, Indonesia at $2.7B and Sri Lanka at $1.8B.
Together the ten hold 63.6% of the ranked markets among 96. Several rows are places that process and re-export imported material, such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy, so their figures include goods that were not grown there.
For a spice buyer, the country of origin usually matters more than the country of shipment. Whole and ground spices, single-origin and blended products, and organic or conventional lots may all pass through a processing hub. Customs records show the shipping country, and origin may be recorded separately, so read both fields.
Confirm current import conditions for spices with the destination customs authority, particularly regarding contaminants, moisture, labelling and any pre-shipment testing that a buyer might expect.
Instead of relying on this chapter total, search shipment records by the specific spice heading you need. That produces a list of named exporters with quantities and declared values for that spice alone, and lets you see who ships pepper, cumin or turmeric in commercial lots.
Producers can do the reverse: study which destinations already buy from the leading origins, then list an offer on the free marketplace to reach those importers.
No. It covers HS chapter 09, which includes coffee, tea and mate as well as spices. A country's position can be driven by a beverage product, so use spice headings for a clean comparison.
Headings 0904 to 0910, covering pepper and chilli, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg with mace and cardamom, seed spices, and ginger, saffron, turmeric and similar.
These economies process and re-export a lot of goods, so their totals can include material that originated elsewhere. Check origin fields in shipment records.
Search shipment records under that spice's heading and filter by origin. The records list shippers, buyers, quantities and declared values.
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