Soap: top exporters and importers (2024)

1. Indonesia$1 billion · 12%
2. China$946 million · 11%
3. Germany$625 million · 7.3%
4. United States$508 million · 5.9%
5. Poland$470 million · 5.5%
6. Turkey$465 million · 5.4%
7. Malaysia$464 million · 5.4%
8. Netherlands$279 million · 3.2%
   re-exports
9. Mexico$271 million · 3.1%
10. Italy$218 million · 2.5%
11. United Kingdom$211 million · 2.5%
12. Spain$181 million · 2.1%
13. France$175 million · 2%
14. Thailand$164 million · 1.9%
15. Colombia$159 million · 1.9%
16. Guatemala$155 million · 1.8%
17. South Korea$155 million · 1.8%
18. India$132 million · 1.5%
19. South Africa$123 million · 1.4%
20. Israel$103 million · 1.2%

Indonesia went from 3.2% to 12% of world exports of soap

In 2024, Indonesia accounted for 12% of recorded world exports and the three largest exporters together for 30.3%. HHI: 514 out of 10,000; equivalent to 19 exporters of the same size.

Share of recorded exports, not of production: a country that produces a lot and consumes almost all of it may export little

Countries where Indonesia sells more than half of what they buy

Countries that buy more than half of this product from its largest exporter, with its share.

• India: 86% of its purchases · Dependence of India on Indonesia
• Malawi: 58.8% of its purchases
• Angola: 87.6% of its purchases
• Djibouti: 69.2% of its purchases
• Thailand: 50.8% of its purchases · Dependence of Thailand on Indonesia
• Mauritania: 61.5% of its purchases
• Papua New Guinea: 74.6% of its purchases
• Madagascar: 65.2% of its purchases
• Côte d'Ivoire: 53.3% of its purchases
• Timor-Leste: 90.8% of its purchases · Dependence of Timor-Leste on Indonesia

1. United States$1 billion · 12.1%
2. Germany$529 million · 6.2%
3. Canada$341 million · 4%
4. France$268 million · 3.1%
5. India$262 million · 3.1%
6. United Kingdom$250 million · 2.9%
7. Netherlands$231 million · 2.7%
   re-exports
8. Australia$215 million · 2.5%
9. United Arab Emirates$197 million · 2.3%
10. Philippines$153 million · 1.8%
11. Japan$152 million · 1.8%
12. Mexico$149 million · 1.7%
13. Iraq$136 million · 1.6%
14. Poland$130 million · 1.5%
15. China$127 million · 1.5%
16. Saudi Arabia$121 million · 1.4%
17. Belgium$112 million · 1.3%
    re-exports
18. Italy$111 million · 1.3%
19. Austria$101 million · 1.2%
20. Czechia$97 million · 1.1%

• 3401 · Soap

Products in the same chapter

• Detergents and surfactants
• Lubricant preparations
• Candles
• Artificial waxes
• Polishes and scouring creams
• Modeling pastes and dental wax

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

Goods trade from CEPII BACI (BACI_HS92_V202601), which reconciles what exporters and importers report: countries that stopped reporting (Russia since 2022) appear with their partners’ data. FOB values in current US dollars; tonnes when BACI reports them. The price per tonne is the value of the rows with a weight divided by that weight. The transport mode is our own estimate based on value per kilo and geography. Data up to 2024.

Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Belgium re-export goods from other countries: their figures include transit.