Cheese, HS Code 0406: World Market Overview

Cheese: World Market Overview

Cheese, HS: 0406 and S.I.C. 2022, is made from almost any animal’s milk. Produced from coagulation of the proteins and fats of milk, cheese is a natural way to preserve milk. Since cheese manufacturing goes so far back in human history, various methods have been reformed through generations of expertise, contributing to a vast array of specialty cheeses by region, country, and family.

The United States is the top cheese producer, making 4.3 million metric tons annually. Germany is the world’s second largest producer with 1.9 million metric tons followed by France at 1.9 and Italy at 1.5. If we group the European countries as the European Union then they are by far the largest cheese producer. The top cheese consumers per capita per year are Greece, France, Iceland, and then Germany. The United States is the 15th largest world cheese consumer per capita per year according to the International Dairy Federation. The accompanying chart portrays per capital consumption of cheese by various countries.

Top Cheese World Exporters by Country

The world’s top exporter of cheese is Germany, who made 7 billion dollars from sales of cheese to foreign countries in 2009. France was close behind in cheese exports, bringing in 6.7 billion dollars from cheese sales abroad. The Netherlands brought in 5.8 billion dollars and Italy brought in 4 billion dollars in 2009 alone from foreign sales of cheese. Top European countries: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Poland make up 9 of the top 10 world sellers of cheese and 72% of the world’s exported cheese value according to the United Nations Comtrade.

Top cheese export countries European pie chart and list percentage of world market and value 2009

United States Imports of Cheese by Foreign Country

Italy is the United State’s largest source of foreign cheese, composing 29% of the foreign cheese bought. United States spent 278 million dollars in 2010 alone on Italian cheese. The second largest source of foreign cheese is France composing 15% of the cheese bought and 142 million dollars.

United states import of cheese and curd in 2010 by country pie chart and list of countries by value of foreign cheese

Foreign Sources of Italian Cheese Coming to the States: Companies 

Italy, being the largest supplier of foreign cheese coming into the United States, deserves a closer look. With PIERS Prospects we can see the Italian sources listed by company. There are a total of 236 Italian companies importing cheese to the United States. With PIERS we have access to an excel document of these companies that includes company name, street address, sales, phone number, employment, year established, main products, company chief names, etc. Below is a screen shot of the top ten Italian cheese exporting companies listed by overall sales. Click here for full excel document including information for all 236 Italian cheese export companies.

Top ten Italian cheese exporters to United States with phone number, street address, corporate chief executives, sales employee number, butter, milk, cheese, dairy products, location imports excel trade data document list spreadsheet

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