Year over year, the overall value of the world’s exported gravel fell by -17% compared to $3.33 billion during 2021.
A loose aggregation of rock fragments, gravel is a key ingredient for surfacing roadways particularly for roads in rural areas with relatively less traffic. Gravel is classified by size of its granules.
In addition, gravel is combined with sand for mixing with asphalt and for producing other construction materials including concrete blocks, bricks and pipes as construction filler. Other uses include making roofing shingles, supporting water filtration and for providing traction on icy roads during winter. Gravel can also be added with industrial sand to produce glass.
The top 5 most lucrative exporters of gravel are mainland China, Norway, Germany, Oman and France. Collectively, that quintet of international gravel suppliers generated over two-fifths (40.7%) of total revenues from globally exported gravel in 2022.
Among continents, European countries sold the highest dollar worth of exported gravel during 2022 with shipments valued at $1.6 billion or 63.6% of the world’s total. In second place were exporters in Asia at 31.8% while another 7.8% of worldwide gravel shipments originated from providers in North America.
Smaller percentages came from sellers in Latin America (2.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (0.4%), then Oceania (0.2%) led by New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 2517 for pebbles, gravel and broken or crushed stone gravel.
Top Gravel Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of gravel during 2022.
- China: US$289 million (10.5% of total gravel exports)
- Norway: $280.8 million (10.2%)
- Germany: $219.6 million (8%)
- Oman: $190.4 million (6.9%)
- France: $144.1 million (5.2%)
- Belgium: $131.4 million (4.8%)
- Austria: $121.7 million (4.4%)
- Canada: $104.4 million (3.8%)
- Netherlands: $93.3 million (3.4%)
- India: $87.1 million (3.2%)
- United Arab Emirates: $83.9 million (3%)
- United Kingdom: $82.6 million (3%)
- Croatia: $81.6 million (3%)
- Italy: $72.2 million (2.6%)
- Slovenia: $60.4 million (2.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 74% of globally exported gravel in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of gravel since 2021 were: Netherlands (up 21.4%), Slovenia (up 19.6%), Canada (up 14.4%) and India (up 7%).
Major suppliers that posted declines in their international sales of gravel were led by: United Arab Emirates (down -73.5% from 2021), Belgium (down -24.1%), mainland China (down -18.6%), Italy (down -18.5%) and Germany (down -15.2%).
Searchable List of Gravel Exporting Countries in 2022
The following automated database showcases 100 key gravel exporters by country which accounted for 99.97% of the overall value of globally exported gravel in 2022.
| Rank | Exporter | Gravel Exports | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $289,037,000 | -18.6% |
| 2. | Norway | $280,817,000 | +6.5% |
| 3. | Germany | $219,612,000 | -15.2% |
| 4. | Oman | $190,387,000 | +3.6% |
| 5. | France | $144,147,000 | -2.5% |
| 6. | Belgium | $131,405,000 | -24.1% |
| 7. | Austria | $121,659,000 | -10.1% |
| 8. | Canada | $104,368,000 | +14.4% |
| 9. | Netherlands | $93,310,000 | +21.4% |
| 10. | India | $87,101,000 | +7% |
| 11. | United Arab Emirates | $83,922,000 | -73.5% |
| 12. | United Kingdom | $82,629,000 | +5.4% |
| 13. | Croatia | $81,607,000 | -4.2% |
| 14. | Italy | $72,241,000 | -18.5% |
| 15. | Slovenia | $60,412,000 | +19.6% |
| 16. | Vietnam | $59,913,000 | -48% |
| 17. | United States | $58,540,000 | +0.3% |
| 18. | Indonesia | $52,965,000 | -9.9% |
| 19. | Mexico | $51,577,000 | -32.1% |
| 20. | Spain | $45,546,000 | +15.9% |
| 21. | Czech Republic | $31,035,000 | +2.1% |
| 22. | Türkiye | $27,712,000 | -8% |
| 23. | Malaysia | $27,552,000 | -47.8% |
| 24. | Denmark | $22,046,000 | -24.1% |
| 25. | Hungary | $21,923,000 | +11.4% |
| 26. | Thailand | $21,495,000 | +165.8% |
| 27. | Honduras | $20,662,000 | +144.9% |
| 28. | Poland | $20,506,000 | +11.9% |
| 29. | Finland | $15,990,000 | -19.5% |
| 30. | Greece | $14,066,000 | -3.1% |
| 31. | Iceland | $13,375,000 | -6.3% |
| 32. | Sweden | $13,186,000 | +1.2% |
| 33. | Laos | $12,061,000 | +91.4% |
| 34. | Romania | $11,549,000 | -24.9% |
| 35. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $11,387,000 | +21% |
| 36. | Colombia | $10,234,000 | +102.9% |
| 37. | Ireland | $9,973,000 | +53% |
| 38. | Slovakia | $9,738,000 | -14.8% |
| 39. | Lithuania | $9,410,000 | -8.2% |
| 40. | Estonia | $8,273,000 | +98.9% |
| 41. | Russia | $8,035,000 | -63.9% |
| 42. | Saint Lucia | $6,765,000 | +14.2% |
| 43. | Uzbekistan | $6,199,000 | +46% |
| 44. | Ukraine | $5,856,000 | -79.5% |
| 45. | Serbia | $5,612,000 | -7.3% |
| 46. | Kazakhstan | $5,549,000 | +106.6% |
| 47. | Portugal | $5,370,000 | +9% |
| 48. | New Zealand | $5,220,000 | +15.8% |
| 49. | Belarus | $4,550,000 | -92.7% |
| 50. | North Macedonia | $4,052,000 | -7% |
| 51. | South Korea | $3,806,000 | -9.1% |
| 52. | Switzerland | $3,741,000 | -23.4% |
| 53. | Bulgaria | $3,439,000 | -18.9% |
| 54. | Jamaica | $3,368,000 | +57.8% |
| 55. | Senegal | $3,156,000 | -19.4% |
| 56. | Dominican Republic | $3,134,000 | -4% |
| 57. | Tunisia | $2,928,000 | +65.3% |
| 58. | Bahamas | $2,712,000 | +23.9% |
| 59. | Peru | $2,517,000 | -11% |
| 60. | Latvia | $2,455,000 | +14.7% |
| 61. | Namibia | $2,224,000 | +39% |
| 62. | Guatemala | $2,146,000 | +81.4% |
| 63. | Bhutan | $2,120,000 | +3826% |
| 64. | Suriname | $1,814,000 | -71.5% |
| 65. | Iran | $1,671,000 | -73.1% |
| 66. | Japan | $1,508,000 | -12.9% |
| 67. | Montserrat | $962,000 | 0% |
| 68. | Luxembourg | $928,000 | -14.5% |
| 69. | South Africa | $897,000 | -1.1% |
| 70. | Egypt | $859,000 | -57.7% |
| 71. | Haiti | $766,000 | -41.9% |
| 72. | Brazil | $702,000 | -10.7% |
| 73. | Montenegro | $692,000 | -14.3% |
| 74. | Philippines | $683,000 | -36.4% |
| 75. | Paraguay | $682,000 | +888.4% |
| 76. | Costa Rica | $667,000 | -60.3% |
| 77. | Taiwan | $659,000 | +13% |
| 78. | Barbados | $637,000 | +129.1% |
| 79. | Jordan | $613,000 | -45.2% |
| 80. | Greenland | $556,000 | +55500% |
| 81. | Fiji | $495,000 | +65.6% |
| 82. | Argentina | $464,000 | -58.3% |
| 83. | Georgia | $406,000 | -11% |
| 84. | Zambia | $316,000 | +12.5% |
| 85. | Australia | $286,000 | -29.2% |
| 86. | Dominica | $282,000 | -55.5% |
| 87. | Gibraltar | $278,000 | +117.2% |
| 88. | Singapore | $260,000 | +116.7% |
| 89. | Kenya | $251,000 | -26.6% |
| 90. | Syria | $246,000 | +6.5% |
| 91. | Andorra | $232,000 | +40.6% |
| 92. | Bangladesh | $216,000 | +414.3% |
| 93. | Morocco | $209,000 | -61.7% |
| 94. | Pakistan | $188,000 | -36.5% |
| 95. | Chile | $179,000 | +214% |
| 96. | Curaçao | $159,000 | -44.8% |
| 97. | Saudi Arabia | $151,000 | +4933% |
| 98. | Uruguay | $126,000 | +869.2% |
| 99. | Trinidad/Tobago | $117,000 | +216.2% |
| 100. | Bahrain | $105,000 | -38.6% |
Focusing on the 100 major suppliers, the fastest growers were Greenland (up 55,500% from 2021), Saudi Arabia (up 4,933%), Bhutan (up 3,826%), Paraguay (up 888.4%), Uruguay (up 869.2%) and Bangladesh (up 414.3%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icons at the top of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
Countries Generating Best Trade Surpluses from Gravel
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for gravel during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported gravel and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- mainland China: US$278.3 million (net export surplus down -17.3% since 2021)
- Norway: $277.6 million (up 6.9%)
- Oman: $189.8 million (up 5.4%)
- India: $81.4 million (up 3.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $80.6 million (down -71.9%)
- Canada: $62.8 million (up 12.2%)
- Croatia: $62.3 million (down -7.4%)
- Vietnam: $58 million (down -48.2%)
- Indonesia: $49 million (down -7.2%)
- Austria: $45.6 million (down -18.1%)
- Mexico: $45.2 million (down -35%)
- Spain: $38.1 million (up 17.7%)
- Slovenia: $35.7 million (up 27.1%)
- Italy: $33.5 million (down -38.6%)
- United Kingdom: $30.6 million (up 186.5%)
The People’s Republic of China garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of gravel. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Incurring Worst Trade Deficits from Gravel
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gravel during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported gravel purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Singapore: -US$242.2 million (net export deficit up 27.4% since 2021)
- Hong Kong: -$227.4 million (down -21.7%)
- Qatar: -$221.3 million (up 8.7%)
- Netherlands: -$206.2 million (down -22.4%)
- United States of America: -$186.8 million (up 5.9%)
- Switzerland: -$131.7 million (down -3.3%)
- Denmark: -$87.8 million (up 71.7%)
- Bangladesh: -$78.8 million (down -57.3%)
- Poland: -$68.7 million (down -19.2%)
- Taiwan: -$67.6 million (down -10.6%)
- Luxembourg: -$51.3 million (up 9.7%)
- Germany: -$45.6 million (up 88.8%)
- Sweden: -$42.8 million (up 6.1%)
- Maldives: -$40 million (up 34.7%)
- Bahrain: -$33.6 million (up 18.4%)
Singapore incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gravel. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Singapore’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gravel-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Gravel Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are selected examples of gravel-trading exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- ECO World FZE (United Arab Emirates)
- Canada Trading & Contracting Inc (Canada)
- Shijiazhuang Mining Imp & Exp Trade Co (China)
- Shri Vinayak Industries (India)
See also Cements Exports by Country, Top Sand Exporters by Country, Sawn Wood Exports by Country and Top Glass and Glassware Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for gravel stone. Accessed on October 1, 2023
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on October 1, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 1, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 1, 2023
Minerals Education Coalition (MEC), Mining & Minerals Information, Minerals Database, Sand and Gravel, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on October 1, 2023
Wikipedia, Gravel. Accessed on October 1, 2023