USA: Export and Import balance

According to a report by the Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft – the Agricultural Market Information Company – the USA accounts for more than half the sales of organic products worldwide, and they are growing apace. As a consequence, the USA has become the biggest importer of organic food in the world, with organic making up a large proportion of the imports of particular products. The main US exports are fruit and vegetables.

From figures in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule System operated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) we learn that, in 2016, the USA exported organic products valued at US$ 547.7m (€ 494.8m). Organic exports as a proportion of total exports rose from 7.1 percent to 8.3 percent from 2011 to 2016. The major organic exports in 2016 were apples, green salad, grapefruits, strawberries and spinach. The main recipients of these exports are Canada and Mexico, but The Middle East and East Asia are becoming increasingly important as organic trading partners.

In 2016, the USA imported organic products with a value of over US$ 1.7bn (€1.54bn). In terms of value, the major imports were coffee, soybeans, bananas, olive oil and maize. These products constituted 68 percent of total organic imports in 2016. Mexico is the leading supplier of organic products imported by the USA, but Peru is becoming increasingly important and is catching up with Mexico as the source of many tropical products. The USA imports organic products from a total of 111 countries, also including Turkey, India, Ecuador and Italy.

The whole report with many more facts and figures can be accessed on the website of the Organic Trade Association OTA.