plate 322 · 2024/25 data

15 countries switched to importing more corn than they grow

Corn imports above home production, marketing years 2010/11 and 2024/25, 119 countries (EU not included). USDA data.

Who feeds the world
  1. 1. Brazil has all but caught the US in farm exports
  2. 2. Brazil exports more chicken than the US and EU combined
  3. 3. India now ships over a third of world rice exports
  4. 4. Russia now exports twice as much wheat as the US
  5. 5. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
  6. 6. China buys three in ten of the world's beef imports
  7. 7. Farmed seafood now outweighs the wild catch
  8. 8. Spanish olive oil mill prices are back at 2021 levels
  9. 9. Ukraine sells a fifth less grain than before the war
  10. 10. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top cotton exporter
  11. 11. Laos now mines more potash than Israel or Jordan
  12. 12. India now grows more rice than China
  13. 13. Côte d'Ivoire grows more cashews than India
  14. 14. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
  15. 15. Mato Grosso grows more soy than China and India combined
  16. 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
  17. 17. Vietnam now drinks more coffee than Russia
  18. 18. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
  19. 19. Ecuador is now the world's second-biggest cocoa bean exporter
  20. 20. Mexico, home of maize, imports more of it than anyone
  21. 21. Cuba now imports more raw sugar than it exports
  22. 22. Japan's fish catch fell to a quarter of its peak
  23. 23. Chicken gives Egyptians twice the calories beef does
  24. 24. Brazil overtook the US as the world's top beef producer
  25. 25. Sub-Saharan Africa doubled its grain, mostly by farming more land
  26. 26. Pakistan now imports about as much cotton as it grows
  27. 27. Malaysia's world palm oil share fell from 37% to 25%
  28. 28. Indonesia now uses a sixth less rice per person
  29. 29. 12 countries switched to farming more fish than they catch
  30. 30. India rose from seventh to third among wild-fish catchers
  31. 31. Argentina went from buying no soybeans to top three
  32. 32. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
  33. 33. Viet Nam became the world's third-biggest corn importing country
  34. 34. Nigeria is now Brazil's biggest supplier of urea fertiliser
  35. 35. Saudi Arabia now raises two-thirds of the chicken it eats
  36. 36. 15 countries switched to importing more corn than they grow
48 of 119

Countries that imported more corn than they grew in 2024/25, up from 34 in 2010/11; 15 switched, only Cuba switched back.

25.9 vs 23.1 Mt

Mexico imported more corn than it grew in 2024/25; Viet Nam, Egypt, Iraq, Chile and Senegal also switched.

20 → 60 Mt

The 15 switchers' corn imports tripled, from 19.7 to 59.8 million tonnes: more of their corn now comes from abroad.

Source: USDA FAS, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD): corn production and imports, 2024/25
the numbers & method
15 countries switched to importing more corn than they grow. Source: USDA FAS, Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD): corn production and imports, 2024/25.
CountryValue (%)
ARE100.0
HKG100.0
ISR100.0
KWT100.0
LBY100.0
MYS100.0
NOR100.0
QAT100.0
SGP100.0
TUN100.0
JPN99.9
DZA99.7
LBN99.4
CRI99.3
GBR99.2
KOR99.2
JAM99.1
JOR98.5
CPV98.1
MAR98.1
TWN97.4
SAU97.0
DOM96.1
OMN94.7
BWA94.3
TTO94.0
YEM91.8
GUY90.4
NAM90.0
IRN87.5
COL83.3
PAN82.5
CHL82.2
COG82.2
VNM73.2
PER72.7
LSO70.4
SWZ69.6
IRQ68.8
ZWE67.2
MRT63.8
SLV63.4
EGY60.1
BTN60.0
HND59.6
NIC59.4
CHE55.8
GTM54.6
MEX52.9
SYR52.6
SEN50.5
VEN50.4
LKA49.3
TUR45.4
TKM41.7
ZMB37.3
MKD28.8
CUB27.8
THA25.7
NZL21.8
KHM20.0
BGD19.5
RWA19.3
BIH18.9
ALB18.0
AZE17.8
TJK16.4
AGO16.2
PHL16.0
ECU13.8
GEO12.7
AFG12.3
CIV12.0
NPL10.9
MWI10.0
CAN9.9
KEN9.9
UZB9.7
IDN8.9
SSD8.7
URY8.3
COD7.7
MOZ7.2
SOM6.8
GHA4.5
GIN4.0
BFA3.9
CMR3.9
SLE3.8
NGA3.7
TCD2.5
BDI1.7
BLR1.4
BRA1.3
KAZ1.1
AUS0.8
CHN0.6
IND0.6
MDA0.6
ZAF0.6
TGO0.5
KGZ0.4
MDG0.4
MLI0.4
MMR0.4
PAK0.4
PRY0.4
RUS0.4
SRB0.4
TZA0.4
HTI0.3
BOL0.2
BEN0.1
UGA0.1
UKR0.1
USA0.1
ARG0.0
CAF0.0
ERI0.0
ETH0.0
GMB0.0
GNB0.0
LAO0.0
PRK0.0

Claim types Fact · Interpretation

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, PSD Online, Corn (data as of 2026-10), production and imports in thousand tonnes, country marketing-year balances, read from USDA PSD via the progrss vault (§4.11, usda-psd 3 matches/0 mismatches). Counting rule (progrss calculation): a country is counted when its corn imports exceed its corn production in the same marketing year. Same 119 countries in 2010/11 and 2024/25 (the EU is reported by USDA as one unit and is not included; the UAE, UK, Oman and Qatar report only in later years and are left out of the then-vs-now count; with them, 52 of 124 in 2024/25). 34 of 119 in 2010/11, 48 of 119 in 2024/25. Switched to imports above production (15): Bhutan, Chile, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Mauritania, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal, Switzerland, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe; switched back (1): Cuba. Venezuela (1,150 vs 1,130 thousand t) and Senegal (507 vs 496) are just over the line. Mexico 2024/25: imports 25,930, production 23,050 thousand t (2010/11: 8,252 and 21,058); Mexico first imported more than it grew in 2023/24. Viet Nam 12,000 vs 4,402; Egypt 10,564 vs 7,000. The 15 switchers imported 19,695 thousand t in 2010/11 and 59,763 in 2024/25 (sum, progrss calculation). Year by year (all reporting countries): 34 (2010/11), 41 (2015/16), 45 (2019/20), 50 (2023/24), 52 (2024/25); USDA's 2025/26 estimate is 49 and its 2026/27 forecast 48 (Estimate and Forecast, not used in the headline). Map: imports as a share (one decimal; Senegal 50.5%, Venezuela 50.4%) of imports plus production in 2024/25; above 50% means imports exceed production. Related plates: 213 (Mexico, top maize importer) and 310 (Viet Nam, corn imports). Takeaway 3 is Interpretation.

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