China and the United States were the world’s largest importers of agrifood products in 2023.
While Chinese purchases in this area fell 1% year-on-year in 2023, to US$216 billion, those corresponding to the United States decreased 3%, to US$204 billion, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
These exports include both agricultural and agro-industrial goods. Together, China and the United States account for 21% of total agrifood imports worldwide.
Importers of agrifood products
Global purchases of these goods include soybeans, food preparations, corn, wheat, bakery products, palm oil, coffee, wine and beef.
Below are the 10 countries with the largest imports of agrifood products in 2023, in millions of dollars:
- China: 216,000 (-1% y-o-y).
- United States: 204,000 (-3% year-on-year).
- Germany: 122,000 (+3% y-o-y).
- Netherlands: 82,000 (0% y-o-y).
- United Kingdom: 80,000 (+6% year-over-year).
- France: 76,000 (+6% year-over-year).
- Japan: 66,000 (-8% year-over-year).
- Italy: 63,000 (+10% year-over-year).
- Spain: 51,000 (+7% y-o-y).
- Belgium: 50,000 (+6% y-o-y).
Agricultural markets
According to OECD data, China is the second most populous and largest country in the world. Although it is home to almost 18 % of the world’s population, it has only 7 % of the world’s drinking water and 10 % of the world’s agricultural land. For this reason, it faces significant resource scarcity.
Agriculture remains key to its economy, accounting for 22.6% of employment. However, its contribution to GDP is only 7.7%, reflecting lower labor productivity than in other sectors. Even if rural incomes are growing at high rates, they are still about one-third of those in urban areas.
On the other hand, the United States is the second largest economy in the world in terms of GDP in PPP and ranks third in area and population. Primary agriculture contributes only 1% to GDP and employs 1.5% of the population. However, the agri-food industry has a significant weight, accounting for about 12% of the country’s total exports.