Worldwide imports of red meat were worth US$95.2 billion in 2020. That dollar amount results from a 31.5% increase in the total value of imported red meat since 2016 and a 5.2% acceleration in global demand from 2019 to 2020.

The People’s Republic of China is the biggest international market for red meat sellers. Importers in China comprise the number 1 buyer of the red meats beef, pork and veal or lamb. Italy leads the world in importing horse meat, while the United States of America is the largest purchaser of imported goat meat from international suppliers.

Red meat comes from the flesh of mammals. Therefore, this analysis excludes so-called healthier white meats such as chicken, turkey and fish.

Demand for red meat is tempered by consumer health concerns.

Some red meats are high in saturated fat, which raises blood cholesterol. According to WebMD, high levels of bad cholesterol elevate the risk of heart disease. Some experts, including nutritional epidemiologist Dr. Marji McCullough of the American Cancer Society, point to a consistent association between eating red and processed meats with cancers notably colorectal cancer.

Other researchers argue that red meat gets a bad rap, albeit most concede that it can be unhealthy to overeat fatty red meats.

Healthier cuts of red meat include beef tenderloin and goat, although this also depends on how dishes are prepared. Moderate consumption of lean red meats does not raise your cholesterol level and provides muscle and bone-building nutrients such as protein, vitamin B12, iron, niacin and zinc.

Global Demand by Type of Red Meat

Beef is the world’s top type of imported red meat as measured by dollar value, accounting for over half (52.3%) of all red meat imports in 2020.

Pork imports (39.8%) placed second followed by lamb (7.3%), horse (0.4%) and goat (0.2%) meat.

1. Beef: US$49.8 billion (up 1.9% from 2019)
2. Pork: $37.9 billion (up 18.4%)
3. Lamb: $7 billion (down -7.8%)
4. Horse: $385.2 million (down -5.9%)
5. Goat: $227.2 million (down -38.6%)

The fastest-growing type of imported red meat during the global pandemic was pork thanks to its 18.4% increase in the annual period starting in 2019.

By comparing changes in consumer demand for imported red meat by buyer country showcased in this article, researchers can uncover the most compelling opportunities for selling meats on international markets.

Red Meat Is A Consumer Convenience Product

Red meat satisfies the criteria of a consumer good (also called an end product) created for consumers to buy in its final form to cook before eating. In contrast, products like turbojets are usually purchased by companies or government entities rather than individuals.

Economists classify red meat as a convenience product, a technical classification for goods that are easily accessed and purchased relatively often. Many shoppers buy red meats on weekly trips to their local grocery stores or butcher shops.

According to Healthline, most uncooked beef can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Frozen red meats can last much longer, from 3 to 12 months.

America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that red meat leftovers be kept in the freezer no longer than 3 months.

Imported Beef by Country

The US$49.8 billion worth of beef imports in 2020 consists of 54.8% worth of frozen beef and 45.2% in fresh or chilled beef imports.

The top 5 importers of fresh, chilled and frozen beef are China, United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany. Combined, those 5 key markets generated 91.3% of the total value for beef imported during 2020.

The searchable table below showcases marketing intelligence for the top 100 buyers of all types of beef, ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 4-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. For fresh or chilled beef, the HS code prefix is 0201. Presented below are amounts that have been combined with international sales of frozen beef from HS code prefix 0202.

Rank	Importer	US$	%Total	2019-20
1	China	$10,179,100,000	37.3%	+23.7%
2	United States	$6,430,327,000	23.6%	+14.9%
3	Japan	$3,344,072,000	12.3%	-5.2%
4	South Korea	$2,896,045,000	10.6%	-0.9%
5	Germany	$2,028,433,000	7.4%	-7.7%
6	Italy	$1,985,373,000	7.3%	-8.9%
7	Hong Kong	$1,834,123,000	6.7%	+1.3%
8	Netherlands	$1,676,712,000	6.2%	-10.2%
9	Egypt	$1,254,022,000	4.6%	-17.7%
10	United Kingdom	$1,236,704,000	4.5%	-2.4%
11	France	$1,181,594,000	4.3%	-17.6%
12	Chile	$1,060,235,000	3.9%	-0.1%
13	Taiwan	$1,058,262,000	3.9%	+4.5%
14	Russia	$932,110,000	3.4%	-11.2%
15	Canada	$922,001,000	3.4%	+28.1%
16	Mexico	$626,749,000	2.3%	-23.7%
17	Israel	$600,361,000	2.2%	-3.2%
18	Vietnam	$592,516,000	2.2%	+69.8%
19	Indonesia	$586,989,000	2.2%	-15%
20	Spain	$568,439,000	2.1%	-23.2%
21	Portugal	$554,529,000	2%	-12.9%
22	UAE	$535,764,000	2%	-44.6%
23	Saudi Arabia	$534,213,000	2%	+13.1%
24	Malaysia	$515,078,000	1.9%	+10.4%
25	Greece	$508,915,000	1.9%	-3.7%
26	Denmark	$476,907,000	1.7%	-2.6%
27	Philippines	$361,547,000	1.3%	-11%
28	Sweden	$347,533,000	1.3%	-13.6%
29	Belgium	$310,875,000	1.1%	-1.9%
30	Singapore	$231,141,000	0.8%	+9.6%
31	Austria	$223,047,000	0.8%	-23.6%
32	Switzerland	$208,509,000	0.8%	+7.6%
33	Brazil	$199,345,000	0.7%	-5.1%
34	Czech Republic	$180,488,000	0.7%	-14.7%
35	El Salvador	$163,696,000	0.6%	-3.3%
36	Iraq	$158,655,000	0.6%	-18.8%
37	Kuwait	$154,822,000	0.6%	-33.4%
38	Uruguay	$144,383,000	0.5%	+13.3%
39	Jordan	$131,065,000	0.5%	-10.1%
40	Ireland	$123,241,000	0.5%	+3.2%
41	Algeria	$120,496,000	0.4%	-40.2%
42	Qatar	$102,299,000	0.4%	+3.8%
43	Thailand	$100,559,000	0.4%	+33.2%
44	Norway	$97,572,000	0.4%	+25.3%
45	Bosnia/Herzegovina	$96,394,000	0.4%	-12.2%
46	Croatia	$94,490,000	0.3%	-14.5%
47	Lebanon	$84,792,000	0.3%	-29.4%
48	Poland	$83,259,000	0.3%	-4%
49	Kazakhstan	$76,971,000	0.3%	-5.9%
50	Finland	$75,697,000	0.3%	-4.4%
51	Hungary	$73,353,000	0.3%	-11.8%
52	Uzbekistan	$70,714,000	0.3%	+221.7%
53	Guatemala	$70,062,000	0.3%	-17.2%
54	Romania	$67,524,000	0.2%	+0.1%
55	Luxembourg	$61,582,000	0.2%	-8.5%
56	Oman	$60,996,000	0.2%	-12.7%
57	Slovakia	$58,455,000	0.2%	-10.6%
58	Bahrain	$58,081,000	0.2%	-6.5%
59	Slovenia	$46,265,000	0.2%	-16.2%
60	Libya	$42,605,000	0.2%	+53.3%
61	Costa Rica	$40,452,000	0.1%	-14.2%
62	Peru	$38,984,000	0.1%	+15.1%
63	Azerbaijan	$36,381,000	0.1%	+31.2%
64	New Zealand	$35,724,000	0.1%	-7.1%
65	French Polynesia	$35,006,000	0.1%	+2.8%
66	North Macedonia	$34,679,000	0.1%	-15%
67	Macao	$34,101,000	0.1%	-26.7%
68	Argentina	$32,203,000	0.1%	-7%
69	Turkey	$32,169,000	0.1%	-16.8%
70	Bulgaria	$31,645,000	0.1%	-12.4%
71	Dominican Republic	$30,473,000	0.1%	-53.6%
72	Malta	$28,686,000	0.1%	-17%
73	Iran	$27,127,000	0.1%	-96.1%
74	Australia	$24,921,000	0.1%	+87.4%
75	Angola	$24,823,000	0.1%	-56.4%
76	Colombia	$24,819,000	0.1%	-4.8%
77	Belarus	$22,596,000	0.1%	-61.2%
78	Gabon	$22,132,000	0.1%	-3.7%
79	Trinidad/Tobago	$20,946,000	0.1%	+5.2%
80	Lithuania	$20,457,000	0.1%	+8%
81	Bahamas	$18,912,000	0.1%	-29.4%
82	Curaçao	$18,486,000	0.1%	-3.5%
83	Ghana	$17,753,000	0.1%	+394.5%
84	Latvia	$17,140,000	0.1%	-12.6%
85	Aruba	$17,004,000	0.1%	-31.7%
86	Papua New Guinea	$16,999,000	0.1%	+9.9%
87	Bangladesh	$16,002,000	0.1%	-16.1%
88	Cyprus	$15,606,000	0.1%	-28.6%
89	Mauritius	$15,556,000	0.1%	-30.7%
90	Estonia	$14,935,000	0.1%	+0.4%
91	New Caledonia	$14,241,000	0.1%	+3.1%
92	Montenegro	$12,433,000	0.05%	-34.6%
93	Panama	$12,420,000	0.05%	-45.3%
94	Armenia	$12,206,000	0.04%	-15.5%
95	Albania	$11,482,000	0.04%	-35.8%
96	Congo	$11,407,000	0.04%	-10.8%
97	Barbados	$10,542,000	0.04%	-13.2%
98	Morocco	$10,205,000	0.04%	-72%
99	Bermuda	$10,020,000	0.04%	-3.8%
100	Mozambique	$9,898,000	0.04%	+14%

Also shown is the percentage of the world’s total purchases of beef in 2020 for each import country, as well as the change in those sales from 2019 to 2020.

Among the above 100 global markets, 29 countries increased their spending on imported beef. The 8 strongest percentage gains year over year were posted by Ghana (up 394.5%), Uzbekistan (up 221.7%), Australia (up 87.4%), Vietnam (up 69.8%), Libya (up 53.3%), Thailand (up 33.2%), and Canada (up 28.1%).

Leading the percentage decliners year over year was Iran via -96.1% drop.

Significant reductions in beef imported by value were also experienced by suppliers in Morocco (down -72%), Belarus (down -61.2%), Angola (down -56.4%), Dominican Republic (down -53.6%) and Panama (down -45.3%).

Imported Pork by Country

Imports of fresh, chilled and frozen pork totaled US$37.9 billion in 2020.

Five key importers of pork are China, Japan, Italy, Germany and Poland. Those 5 key markets generated 57.1% of the global market for imported pork during 2020.

The customizable table below showcases marketing intelligence for the top 100 buyers of all types of pork, ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 4-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. For frozen, fresh or chilled pork, the HS code prefix is 0203.

Rank	Importer	US$	%Total	2019-20
1	China	$11,881,216,000	31.4%	+163.5%
2	Japan	$4,451,561,000	11.8%	-3.9%
3	Italy	$2,090,293,000	5.5%	-10.6%
4	Germany	$1,662,701,000	4.4%	-10.8%
5	Poland	$1,526,337,000	4%	-7.1%
6	South Korea	$1,382,254,000	3.6%	-13.6%
7	Mexico	$1,306,238,000	3.4%	-15.5%
8	United Kingdom	$1,128,776,000	3%	-7.1%
9	United States	$1,048,288,000	2.8%	-4.7%
10	France	$843,062,000	2.2%	-1.4%
11	Hong Kong	$764,422,000	2%	+29%
12	Czech Republic	$717,772,000	1.9%	-2.8%
13	Netherlands	$706,739,000	1.9%	+11%
14	Romania	$678,133,000	1.8%	-3.6%
15	Canada	$562,243,000	1.5%	+24.3%
16	Australia	$474,907,000	1.3%	-15.4%
17	Greece	$458,803,000	1.2%	-18.1%
18	Vietnam	$358,942,000	0.9%	+550.4%
19	Slovakia	$349,842,000	0.9%	+3%
20	Hungary	$332,628,000	0.9%	-17%
21	Austria	$322,992,000	0.9%	-13.3%
22	Singapore	$311,564,000	0.8%	+29.4%
23	Portugal	$291,709,000	0.8%	-8.5%
24	Bulgaria	$278,023,000	0.7%	+3.2%
25	Chile	$267,942,000	0.7%	+8.3%
26	Belgium	$252,261,000	0.7%	+5.5%
27	Croatia	$215,638,000	0.6%	-7.2%
28	Spain	$212,389,000	0.6%	-3%
29	Sweden	$193,590,000	0.5%	-20%
30	Ireland	$185,301,000	0.5%	+28.1%
31	Taiwan	$175,499,000	0.5%	-20.8%
32	Denmark	$171,429,000	0.5%	+4.4%
33	Colombia	$153,392,000	0.4%	-30.2%
34	New Zealand	$152,110,000	0.4%	+5.3%
35	Lithuania	$142,665,000	0.4%	-0.3%
36	Philippines	$128,240,000	0.3%	-22.3%
37	Slovenia	$118,284,000	0.3%	-12.8%
38	Uruguay	$97,585,000	0.3%	+1.8%
39	Dominican Republic	$80,932,000	0.2%	+13.7%
40	Honduras	$70,562,000	0.2%	+7.7%
41	Serbia	$66,245,000	0.2%	+4.4%
42	Estonia	$56,511,000	0.1%	+1.7%
43	Latvia	$55,378,000	0.1%	-16.8%
44	Argentina	$55,033,000	0.1%	-31.2%
45	Macao	$54,483,000	0.1%	-6.2%
46	Ukraine	$54,408,000	0.1%	+23.1%
47	Belarus	$53,251,000	0.1%	-10.3%
48	Finland	$53,219,000	0.1%	-23.2%
49	Montenegro	$50,970,000	0.1%	-2.3%
50	Malaysia	$47,389,000	0.1%	-9.4%
51	South Africa	$44,289,000	0.1%	-28.7%
52	UAE	$42,780,000	0.1%	+14.7%
53	Bosnia/Herzegovina	$37,093,000	0.1%	-12.9%
54	Guatemala	$33,956,000	0.1%	-11.1%
55	Switzerland	$31,462,000	0.1%	+7.1%
56	North Macedonia	$29,355,000	0.1%	-3.2%
57	Angola	$29,295,000	0.1%	-36.5%
58	Panama	$27,221,000	0.1%	-20.1%
59	Congo	$25,934,000	0.1%	+14%
60	Georgia	$25,518,000	0.1%	-8.5%
61	Costa Rica	$24,512,000	0.1%	-26.8%
62	Nicaragua	$23,921,000	0.1%	+19.1%
63	Luxembourg	$22,239,000	0.1%	+10.9%
64	El Salvador	$20,951,000	0.1%	+13.8%
65	Ivory Coast	$17,080,000	0.05%	+135.6%
66	Peru	$16,562,000	0.04%	-15.1%
67	Norway	$16,102,000	0.04%	+351.4%
68	Gabon	$15,146,000	0.04%	+8.3%
69	Cyprus	$14,796,000	0.04%	-23.4%
70	Bahamas	$13,411,000	0.04%	-3.4%
71	Russia	$12,292,000	0.03%	-94.9%
72	Armenia	$11,959,000	0.03%	-25.9%
73	Papua New Guinea	$11,824,000	0.03%	-21.5%
74	Albania	$11,019,000	0.03%	-5.3%
75	Trinidad/Tobago	$10,761,000	0.03%	-18.3%
76	Malta	$10,299,000	0.03%	+1.1%
77	Moldova	$9,959,000	0.03%	-31.1%
78	Curaçao	$9,605,000	0.03%	+1%
79	Kazakhstan	$9,260,000	0.02%	+210.3%
80	Mongolia	$8,987,000	0.02%	+51.7%
81	French Polynesia	$8,351,000	0.02%	-5.8%
82	Democr. Rep. Congo	$6,866,000	0.02%	-20.7%
83	Haiti	$6,640,000	0.02%	+82.9%
84	Brunei Darussalam	$6,152,000	0.02%	-9.3%
85	Aruba	$6,059,000	0.02%	-14.5%
86	Greenland	$5,909,000	0.02%	+6.6%
87	Equatorial Guinea	$5,765,000	0.02%	+10.5%
88	Namibia	$5,472,000	0.01%	-28.7%
89	Mozambique	$5,310,000	0.01%	+17.0%
90	Liberia	$5,262,000	0.01%	+26.7%
91	Andorra	$4,996,000	0.01%	+2.8%
92	Barbados	$4,244,000	0.01%	-20.4%
93	Cuba	$4,184,000	0.01%	-57.9%
94	Iceland	$3,396,000	0.01%	-40%
95	Jamaica	$2,845,000	0.01%	-36.7%
96	Seychelles	$2,844,000	0.01%	+17%
97	Indonesia	$2,764,000	0.01%	-16.5%
98	Turkey	$2,668,000	0.01%	+9.1%
99	Bahrain	$2,495,000	0.01%	-14%
100	Faroe Islands	$2,449,000	0.01%	+4.5%

Also shown is the percentage of the world’s total purchases of pork in 2020 for each import country, as well as the change in those sales from 2019 to 2020.

Focusing on the 100 top global markets in the above database, 41 countries increased their spending on imported pork. The 8 strongest percentage gains year over year were posted by Vietnam (up 550.4%), Norway (up 351.4%), Kazakhstan (up 210.3%), China (up 163.5%), Ivory Coast (up 135.6%), Haiti (up 82.9%), and Mongolia (up 51.7%).

The severest percentage declines in global pork demand from 2019 to 2020 belong to Russia (down -94.9%), Cuba (down -57.9%), Iceland (down -40%), Jamaica (down -36.7%), Angola (down -36.5%), Argentina (down -31.2%) and Moldova (down -31.1%).

Imported Sheep Meat by Country

Globally, veal and lamb meat imported in 2020 was worth US$7 billion.

The top 5 importers of fresh, chilled and frozen veal and lamb meat are China, United States, France, Germany and United Kingdom. Those 5 major markets represent 57.1% of the total value for imported sheep meat during 2020.

The searchable table below showcases marketing intelligence for the top 100 buyers of all types of beef, ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 4-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. For fresh, chilled or frozen sheep meat, the HS code prefix is 0204 (minus goat meat under code 020450.

Rank	Importer	US$	%Total	2019-20
1	China	$1,744,289,000	24.3%	-6.3%
2	United States	$1,010,793,000	14.1%	-7.7%
3	France	$531,210,000	7.4%	+0.1%
4	Germany	$409,578,000	5.7%	+4.1%
5	United Kingdom	$407,363,000	5.7%	+1.6%
6	United Arab Emirates	$261,403,000	3.6%	-22%
7	Netherlands	$220,417,000	3.1%	-10.8%
8	Malaysia	$209,221,000	2.9%	+27.4%
9	Belgium	$200,776,000	2.8%	+2.6%
10	Japan	$189,975,000	2.6%	-1.9%
11	Canada	$183,408,000	2.6%	+2.1%
12	Qatar	$166,967,000	2.3%	-17.5%
13	South Korea	$142,526,000	2%	+5.9%
14	Italy	$139,354,000	1.9%	-16.2%
15	Saudi Arabia	$114,098,000	1.6%	-12.3%
16	Taiwan	$106,576,000	1.5%	+10.2%
17	Switzerland	$99,549,000	1.4%	+8.2%
18	Jordan	$93,969,000	1.3%	-29.3%
19	Singapore	$86,686,000	1.2%	+9.4%
20	Kuwait	$74,051,000	1%	+79.5%
21	Sweden	$73,737,000	1%	+5.6%
22	Hong Kong	$66,539,000	0.9%	-1.6%
23	Papua New Guinea	$51,688,000	0.7%	+2.5%
24	Portugal	$47,499,000	0.7%	-14.4%
25	Oman	$46,751,000	0.7%	-14.2%
26	Ireland	$40,037,000	0.6%	+2.2%
27	Spain	$38,037,000	0.5%	-32%
28	Denmark	$29,160,000	0.4%	-4.5%
29	Mauritius	$25,717,000	0.4%	-11.6%
30	Bahrain	$25,055,000	0.3%	-52.2%
31	Brazil	$21,333,000	0.3%	0%
32	Greece	$19,536,000	0.3%	-33.7%
33	Austria	$19,366,000	0.3%	-20.9%
34	Fiji	$18,931,000	0.3%	-20.5%
35	New Zealand	$17,213,000	0.2%	+49.7%
36	Israel	$15,997,000	0.2%	0%
37	Trinidad/Tobago	$12,987,000	0.2%	-14.9%
38	Finland	$12,529,000	0.2%	-14.3%
39	Jamaica	$11,410,000	0.2%	-8.8%
40	Thailand	$9,371,000	0.1%	-36.2%
41	Russia	$9,083,000	0.1%	-40.1%
42	Luxembourg	$8,449,000	0.1%	+5.2%
43	Indonesia	$8,000,000	0.1%	-47%
44	Croatia	$7,324,000	0.1%	-37.7%
45	Barbados	$6,141,000	0.1%	-8.9%
46	Tonga	$5,991,000	0.1%	0%
47	Poland	$5,946,000	0.1%	-37.6%
48	Cyprus	$5,722,000	0.1%	-40.6%
49	Bulgaria	$5,615,000	0.1%	+8.7%
50	Samoa	$4,962,000	0.1%	+61%
51	French Polynesia	$4,664,000	0.1%	-13.5%
52	Sri Lanka	$4,484,000	0.1%	-38.9%
53	Egypt	$4,436,000	0.1%	-48%
54	Macao	$4,128,000	0.1%	-27.6%
55	Mexico	$4,053,000	0.1%	0%
56	Vietnam	$3,904,000	0.1%	-44.5%
57	Bahamas	$3,757,000	0.1%	-12.9%
58	Australia	$3,507,000	0.05%	-6.8%
59	Romania	$3,439,000	0.05%	-11.8%
60	South Africa	$3,411,000	0.05%	-68.2%
61	Czech Republic	$3,397,000	0.05%	-41.6%
62	Philippines	$3,346,000	0.05%	0%
63	Norway	$3,292,000	0.05%	-33.7%
64	Ghana	$3,248,000	0.05%	+270.4%
65	Faroe Islands	$2,832,000	0.04%	+0.04%
66	New Caledonia	$2,613,000	0.04%	0%
67	Maldives	$2,555,000	0.04%	-56.3%
68	Libya	$2,486,000	0.03%	+310.2%
69	Malta	$2,414,000	0.03%	-16.6%
70	Ivory Coast	$2,260,000	0.03%	+113.2%
71	Lebanon	$1,974,000	0.03%	-53.7%
72	Bermuda	$1,953,000	0.03%	-12.3%
73	Dominican Republic	$1,898,000	0.03%	-49.7%
74	Estonia	$1,863,000	0.03%	-19.3%
75	Brunei Darussalam	$1,813,000	0.03%	-65.9%
76	Andorra	$1,735,000	0.02%	-11.8%
77	Seychelles	$1,629,000	0.02%	-30%
78	Turkey	$1,610,000	0.02%	-62.5%
79	Somalia	$1,384,000	0.02%	-31%
80	Saint Lucia	$1,370,000	0.02%	-38.5%
81	Cabo Verde	$1,324,000	0.02%	+86%
82	Hungary	$1,249,000	0.02%	-41%
83	Cook Islands	$1,232,000	0.02%	-18%
84	Iraq	$1,186,000	0.02%	-60.5%
85	Greenland	$1,087,000	0.02%	0%
86	Uzbekistan	$1,076,000	0.01%	0%
87	Latvia	$1,068,000	0.01%	-27.7%
88	Mozambique	$995,000	0.01%	+294.8%
89	Cayman Islands	$966,000	0.01%	+39.7%
90	Mali	$889,000	0.01%	-49.7%
91	Gibraltar	$862,000	0.01%	+30.8%
92	Saint Kitts/Nevis	$813,000	0.01%	+39.5%
93	Lithuania	$769,000	0.01%	-20.3%
94	Azerbaijan	$726,000	0.01%	+401.4%
95	Slovenia	$703,000	0.01%	-41.2%
96	Panama	$564,000	0.01%	-51.8%
97	Myanmar	$563,000	0.01%	+28.4%
98	Slovakia	$543,000	0.01%	-14%
99	Curaçao	$533,000	0.01%	-44.8%
100	Cambodia	$518,000	0.01%	-12.9%

Also shown is the percentage of the world’s total purchases of sheep meat in 2020 for each import country, as well as the change in those sales from 2019 to 2020.

Among the above 100 global markets, 28 countries increased their spending on imported veal and lamb meat. The 8 strongest percentage gains year over year were posted by Azerbaijan (up 401.4%), Libya (up 310.2%), Mozambique (up 294.8%), Ivory Coast (up 113.2%), Cabo Verde (up 86%), Kuwait (up 79.5%), and Samoa (up 61%).

Posting the severest percentage decliners from 2019 to 2020 among sheep meat importers by country were South Africa (down -68.2%), Brunei Darussalam (down -65.9%), Turkey (down -62.5%), Iraq (down -60.5%), Maldives (down -56.3%) and Lebanon (down -53.7%).

Imported Horse Meat by Country

The worldwide total for fresh, chilled and frozen horse meat imports in 2020 amounted to US$385.2 million.

Accounting for about three-quarters (74.6%) of equine meat imports were 5 countries. These were Italy, Belgium, China, France and Japan.

The import market for equine meat is much smaller than comparable markets for other types of red meat. The searchable table below highlights those 40 specialized buyers of horse meat, ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 4-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. The HS code prefix for equine meat is 0205, which includes both horse and mule meat.

Rank	Importer	US$	%Total	2019-20
1	Italy	$125,684,000	32.6%	+17.8%
2	Belgium	$55,932,000	14.5%	+0.4%
3	China	$35,593,000	9.2%	-32.8%
4	France	$35,057,000	9.1%	-22.8%
5	Japan	$34,970,000	9.1%	-26.7%
6	Switzerland	$29,120,000	7.6%	-5.4%
7	Russia	$21,684,000	5.6%	-10.6%
8	Netherlands	$20,427,000	5.3%	+1.7%
9	Germany	$4,849,000	1.3%	+12.4%
10	Kazakhstan	$4,833,000	1.3%	-20%
11	Finland	$3,510,000	0.9%	+24.5%
12	Vietnam	$2,944,000	0.8%	0%
13	United States	$2,370,000	0.6%	+1.9%
14	Bulgaria	$2,222,000	0.6%	-18.8%
15	Luxembourg	$1,187,000	0.3%	-22.5%
16	Spain	$1,075,000	0.3%	+86.6%
17	Sweden	$758,000	0.2%	+5.1%
18	Poland	$558,000	0.1%	+24.8%
19	Austria	$477,000	0.1%	-18.2%
20	Slovakia	$443,000	0.1%	-80.1%
21	Greece	$312,000	0.1%	+254.5%
22	Czech Republic	$242,000	0.1%	-23.4%
23	Uruguay	$242,000	0.1%	0%
24	Hungary	$226,000	0.1%	-45.8%
25	Slovenia	$92,000	0.02%	-25.8%
26	Bangladesh	$88,000	0.02%	0%
27	Hong Kong	$78,000	0.02%	0%
28	Uzbekistan	$78,000	0.02%	+41.8%
29	Latvia	$45,000	0.01%	-10%
30	Malta	$43,000	0.01%	+4.9%
31	Guyana	$39,000	0.01%	0%
32	Estonia	$22,000	0.01%	0%
33	Jamaica	$10,000	0.003%	0%
34	Norway	$6,000	0.002%	-53.8%
35	Portugal	$5,000	0.001%	-28.6%
36	Romania	$5,000	0.001%	0%
37	Denmark	$4,000	0.001%	0%
38	Andorra	$3,000	0.001%	-40%
39	Croatia	$2,000	0.001%	-90.9%
40	Democr. Rep. Congo	$1,000	0.0003%	0%

Also shown is the percentage of the world’s total purchases of horse meat in 2020 for each import country, as well as the change in those sales from 2019 to 2020.

Among the above 40 global markets, 12 countries increased their spending on imported equine meat from 2019 to 2020. The 5 strongest percentage gains year over year were posted by Greece (up 254.5%), Spain (up 86.6%), Uzbekistan (up 41.8%), Poland (up 24.8%) and Finland (up 24.5%).

The leading decliners were Croatia (down -90.9%), Slovakia (down -80.1%) and Norway (down -53.8%).

Imported Goat Meat by Country

Imports of goat meat were worth US$227.2 million for 2020.

The top 5 importers of fresh, chilled and frozen goat meat are United States of America, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Taiwan and South Korea. Those 5 key markets collectively bought two-thirds (66.8%) of the total value for goat meat imported during 2020.

The searchable table below quantifies global demand from the 100 top buyer countries for imported goat meat. The countries are ranked in descending order starting with the greatest annual sales amount at the 6-digit Harmonized System (HS) code level. For all types of goat meat, the HS code prefix is 020450.

Rank	Importer	US$	%Total	2019-20
1	United States	$78,176,000	34.4%	-43.6%
2	Unite Arab Emirates	$37,546,000	16.5%	-60.9%
3	Portugal	$14,126,000	6.2%	+21%
4	Taiwan	$12,242,000	5.4%	-1.5%
5	South Korea	$9,669,000	4.3%	+3.1%
6	Canada	$8,407,000	3.7%	-3.6%
7	Hong Kong	$8,159,000	3.6%	+28.2%
8	France	$7,330,000	3.2%	+7.1%
9	Italy	$7,113,000	3.1%	-20.9%
10	Saudi Arabia	$6,521,000	2.9%	-57.8%
11	Spain	$6,388,000	2.8%	+3.5%
12	Trinidad/Tobago	$6,035,000	2.7%	-32.9%
13	Japan	$3,589,000	1.6%	+2.3%
14	United Kingdom	$3,000,000	1.3%	+69.1%
15	China	$1,485,000	0.7%	-10.4%
16	Switzerland	$1,407,000	0.6%	-24.5%
17	Sri Lanka	$1,340,000	0.6%	-11%
18	Singapore	$1,331,000	0.6%	+178.5%
19	Somalia	$1,141,000	0.5%	-42.6%
20	Macao	$1,068,000	0.5%	+106.6%
21	Oman	$969,000	0.4%	-89.8%
22	Bahrain	$859,000	0.4%	+23.8%
23	Germany	$790,000	0.3%	-48.7%
24	Kuwait	$786,000	0.3%	+240.3%
25	Qatar	$738,000	0.3%	-83.4%
26	Malaysia	$705,000	0.3%	+82.6%
27	Belgium	$608,000	0.3%	+93%
28	Vietnam	$497,000	0.2%	-5%
29	Croatia	$391,000	0.2%	+63.6%
30	Greece	$373,000	0.2%	+5.7%
31	Saint Lucia	$333,000	0.1%	+74.3%
32	Netherlands	$260,000	0.1%	+17.1%
33	Luxembourg	$247,000	0.1%	-30.4%
34	Mali	$227,000	0.1%	-42.8%
35	Sudan	$221,000	0.1%	+29.2%
36	Antigua/Barbuda	$182,000	0.1%	-60.5%
37	Seychelles	$173,000	0.1%	-3%
38	Jamaica	$159,000	0.1%	-47.4%
39	Bermuda	$158,000	0.1%	-33.3%
40	Andorra	$116,000	0.1%	-19.4%
41	Denmark	$108,000	0.05%	-63%
42	Poland	$98,000	0.04%	-49.7%
43	Lebanon	$92,000	0.04%	0%
44	Cayman Islands	$83,000	0.04%	-73.5%
45	Angola	$83,000	0.04%	-73.2%
46	Aruba	$82,000	0.04%	+412.5%
47	Tunisia	$78,000	0.03%	0%
48	Laos	$77,000	0.03%	+760%
49	Gibraltar	$76,000	0.03%	+2.7%
50	St Maarten (Dutch)	$65,000	0.03%	-80.2%
51	Saint Kitts/Nevis	$57,000	0.03%	+83.9%
52	Finland	$53,000	0.02%	+65.6%
53	British Virgin Islands	$53,000	0.02%	-31.2%
54	Dominica	$46,000	0.02%	+411.1%
55	Grenada	$46,000	0.02%	0%
56	Sweden	$46,000	0.02%	-62.6%
57	Barbados	$41,000	0.02%	-62%
58	Papua New Guinea	$37,000	0.02%	+85%
59	Mauritius	$35,000	0.02%	-37.5%
60	Turks/Caicos Is.	$35,000	0.02%	+25%
61	Austria	$35,000	0.02%	-50.7%
62	Democr. Rep. Congo	$34,000	0.01%	-69.4%
63	Bulgaria	$31,000	0.01%	-58.7%
64	Czech Republic	$30,000	0.01%	+275%
65	Cook Islands	$26,000	0.01%	-33.3%
66	Equatorial Guinea	$25,000	0.01%	+240%
67	Curaçao	$21,000	0.01%	-81.9%
68	New Zealand	$20,000	0.01%	-13%
69	Malta	$18,000	0.01%	-85%
70	French Polynesia	$17,000	0.01%	+54.5%
71	Jordan	$17,000	0.01%	0%
72	Cyprus	$17,000	0.01%	-5%
73	Dominican Republic	$14,000	0.01%	-81.6%
74	Norway	$13,000	0.01%	0%
75	South Sudan	$13,000	0.01%	-91.3%
76	Thailand	$13,000	0.01%	+120%
77	Ivory Coast	$11,000	0.005%	+100%
78	Ireland	$10,000	0.004%	-95.3%
79	Romania	$10,000	0.004%	0%
80	Syrian Arab Republic	$9,000	0.004%	0%
81	Myanmar	$7,000	0.003%	-36.4%
82	Cabo Verde	$5,000	0.002%	-88.4%
83	Solomon Islands	$4,000	0.002%	+30%
84	Azerbaijan	$4,000	0.002%	0%
85	Uganda	$4,000	0.002%	0%
86	Turkey	$4,000	0.002%	0%
87	Bonaire/St Eustatius/Saba	$4,000	0.002%	+30%
88	Lesotho	$4,000	0.002%	+30%
89	Liberia	$3,000	0.001%	-82.4%
90	Panama	$3,000	0.001%	+5%
91	Slovakia	$3,000	0.001%	-7%
92	Guinea	$3,000	0.001%	0%
93	Faroe Islands	$3,000	0.001%	+5%
94	Albania	$2,000	0.001%	-33.3%
95	Marshall Islands	$2,000	0.001%	-66.7%
96	Maldives	$2,000	0.001%	-93.1%
97	Lithuania	$1,000	0.0004%	-94.4%
98	Sierra Leone	$1,000	0.0004%	0%
99	Sao Tome/Principe	$1,000	0.0004%	0%
100	Guatemala	$1,000	0.0004%	0%

Also shown is the percentage of the world’s total purchases of goat meat in 2020 for each import country, as well as the change in those sales from 2019 to 2020.

Among the above 100 global markets, 36 countries increased their spending on imported goat. The 6 most intense percentage gains from 2019 to 2020 arose from demand by Laos (up 7,600%), Equatorial Guinea (up 2,400%), Thailand (up 1,200%), Ivory Coast (up 1,000%), Aruba (up 412.5%) and Dominica (up 411.1%).

Showing the strongest declines in demand for imported goat meat are Ireland (down -95.3%), Lithuania (down -94.4%), Maldives (down -93.1%) and South Sudan (down -91.3%).

See also

More great research: Best Global Consumer Markets for Selling Imported Gold, Best Global Consumer Markets for Selling Imported Wine, Best Global Consumer Markets for Selling Imported Coffee, Most Valuable Global Markets for Selling Silver Imports

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WebMD, The Meat You Eat: What’s Good For You?.

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