Viet Nam became the world's third-biggest corn importing country
Corn imports, million tonnes, 2024/25 (grey: 2010/11), top 10 countries; the EU bloc (18.8 Mt) not ranked. USDA estimates.
- 1. Brazil has all but caught the US in farm exports
- 2. Brazil exports more chicken than the US and EU combined
- 3. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
- 4. Russia now exports twice as much wheat as the US
- 5. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
- 6. China buys three in ten of the world's beef imports
- 7. Farmed seafood now outweighs the wild catch
- 8. Spanish olive oil mill prices are back at 2021 levels
- 9. Ukraine sells a fifth less grain than before the war
- 10. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top cotton exporter
- 11. Laos now mines more potash than Israel or Jordan
- 12. India now grows more rice than China
- 13. Côte d'Ivoire grows more cashews than India
- 14. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 15. Mato Grosso grows more soy than China and India combined
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Vietnam now drinks more coffee than Russia
- 18. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 19. Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
- 20. Mexico, home of maize, imports more of it than anyone
- 21. Cuba now imports more raw sugar than it exports
- 22. Japan's fish catch fell to a quarter of its peak
- 23. Chicken gives Egyptians twice the calories beef does
- 24. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top beef producer
- 25. Sub-Saharan Africa doubled its grain, mostly by farming more land
- 26. Pakistan now imports about as much cotton as it grows
- 27. Malaysia's world palm oil share fell from 37% to 25%
- 28. Indonesia now uses a sixth less rice per person
- 29. 12 countries switched to farming more fish than they catch
- 30. India rose from seventh to third among wild-fish catchers
- 31. Argentina went from buying no soybeans to top three
- 32. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
- 33. Viet Nam became the world's third-biggest corn importing country
Viet Nam's corn imports in 2024/25, up from 1.3 Mt in 2010/11.
Its rank among corn-importing countries, behind only Mexico and Japan (117 importing countries in 2024/25).
USDA's estimate for 2025/26, still third: a top rice exporter now feeds its farms on imported grain.
the numbers & method
| Corn imports (Mt) | 2010/11 (grey bar) (Mt) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 25.9 | 8.3 |
| Japan | 15.5 | 15.6 |
| Viet Nam | 12.0 | 1.3 |
| South Korea | 11.4 | 8.1 |
| Egypt | 10.6 | 5.8 |
| Iran | 9.8 | 3.5 |
| Colombia | 7.5 | 3.5 |
| Turkey | 5.7 | 0.4 |
| Algeria | 4.5 | 2.8 |
| Peru | 4.5 | 1.9 |
Claim types Estimate · Interpretation
USDA FAS PSD Online, corn, imports (1,000 metric tonnes), local marketing years, data as of October 2026 (2010/11 from the May 2026 release of the same database), read via the progrss vault (source usda-psd; GUIDELINES §4.11). PSD figures are USDA estimates. Ranks are among countries with imports above zero (100 in 2010/11, 117 in 2024/25) and are progrss calculations; the European Union, which PSD reports as one bloc of 27 countries, is not ranked as a country: it imported 18.8 Mt in 2024/25 on USDA's October–September trade-year basis (Grain: World Markets and Trade, November 2026), which would place it second. Figures here are local marketing years; on the trade-year basis Viet Nam imported 12.7 Mt in 2024/25 and still ranks third among countries. Viet Nam: 1.30 Mt (2010/11, #15), 8.0 (2015/16, #5), 13.5 (2020/21, #4), 12.0 (2024/25, #3), 13.5 (2025/26 estimate, #3), 14.6 (2026/27 forecast). China, #1 in 2020/21 at 29.5 Mt, fell to 1.8 Mt in 2024/25. Corn is mostly used for animal feed (context). Interpretation: takeaway 3's last clause. Viet Nam's 2024/25 imports are below its own 2020/21 peak (13.5 Mt); its climb from fourth to third came as China's imports fell. See also plate 213 (Mexico's maize imports).
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