Sugar · ranking
The sugar export ranking is unusually lopsided. Here is what the numbers show, where they mislead, and how a buyer can move from the list to named suppliers.
| # | Market | Value | Volume | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | $18.8B | — | 2024 |
| 2 | Germany | $4.0B | — | 2024 |
| 3 | Thailand | $3.8B | — | 2024 |
| 4 | China | $3.3B | — | 2024 |
| 5 | United States | $3.0B | — | 2024 |
| 6 | France | $2.9B | — | 2024 |
| 7 | India | $2.6B | — | 2024 |
| 8 | Netherlands | $2.5B | — | 2024 |
| 9 | Mexico | $2.0B | — | 2024 |
| 10 | Poland | $1.7B | — | 2024 |
Ranking is for the whole of HS chapter 17 (sugars and sugar confectionery), reporter-declared, latest year available per market. Source: UN Comtrade.
Brazil sits first at $18.8B. The next country, Germany, is at $4.0B, and Thailand follows at $3.8B. In other words the leader is more than four times the size of second place, which is a far steeper drop than in most commodity rankings.
From second to tenth the values narrow to a cluster: China $3.3B, the United States $3.0B, France $2.9B, India $2.6B, the Netherlands $2.5B, Mexico $2.0B and Poland $1.7B. The ten together hold 66.8% of the ranked markets among the 96 in the dataset, and Brazil alone accounts for a large part of that.
The ranking is built on HS chapter 17, sugars and sugar confectionery. Heading 1701 covers cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form, but the chapter also takes in molasses, other sugars and sugar confectionery. A confectionery-heavy exporter can rank well here without selling much raw or refined sugar.
The mix of countries hints at it. Cane and beet producers sit next to industrial economies that ship processed and sweetened goods. Whether an origin is cane, beet or a re-exporter matters to a buyer, and the ranking does not tell you.
Rankings depend on what each country reports and in which year. All ten rows here are 2024, which helps comparability, but re-exports through trading hubs and revised filings can still change positions. A value is not a volume, so a lower-value origin selling at a different grade may ship more tonnes than the table implies.
Sugar is also heavily affected by government measures such as quotas, support schemes and duties in destination markets. This page does not state any of them, and you should confirm current rules with the relevant authorities before planning a shipment.
A buyer can filter shipment records for the sugar heading by origin, then read the exporter names, quantities and declared values to compare reliable shippers. An exporter can use the same records to see which destinations the leaders already serve and where a smaller origin might fit.
If you cannot access the biggest trading houses, the free marketplace on the site allows you to post or search offers directly.
Brazil is first at $18.8B, well ahead of Germany at $4.0B. The figure is for HS chapter 17, which includes other sugars and confectionery, not raw sugar alone.
The top ten hold 66.8% of ranked markets in a dataset of 96 markets, and most of that comes from Brazil's very large share of the ten-country total.
Chapter 17 includes sugar confectionery and other processed sweet goods, so manufacturing economies can rank without being major cane or beet sugar sellers.
Search shipment records under the sugar heading and filter by origin. Records name shippers, consignees, quantities and declared values, so you can contact suppliers directly.
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