The United States is the world's largest importer of ginger. Conventional ginger accounts for approximately 89% of all US ginger imports. The country's imports present a steady growth at an average annual rate of 8.3%. In 2019 the country imported 78,505 tons.
The US imported 63,392 tons of ginger between January and August 2020, i.e. 17% more volume than in the same period of 2019 (54,100 tons). This growth has been associated with an increased consumption due to the beneficial properties of ginger against COVID-19.
China is the US market's leading ginger supplier with an average share of 77% of all imports. However, their share has been declining from 83% in 2013 to 76% in 2019 (59,555 tons) and 69% in the January-August 2020 period (43,729 tons).
Brazil has taken over this share, as their exports to the US have been growing steadily at a 19% annual average rate. In 2018, it doubled its supply to the United States over 2017, from 3,158 tons to 6,488. In 2019, it increased its volume by 23% and shipped 7,957 tons to the US, displacing growing suppliers such as Peru and Costa Rica from the market and increasing their share to 10% of the total imported. In the January-Agust 2020 period, it increased by 12%.
Peru is the third-largest supplier of ginger to the United States, with an average annual growth rate of 15.1%. It achieved its most important volume in 2017 (5,414 tons); however, its exports declined in the next two years, reaching the lowest level in 2019 with 2,831 tons. In the January-August 2020 period, it managed to recover, as it surpassed 3,880 tons it placed in the US throughout all of 2019 and had a 37% growth.
Organic ginger
On average, imports of organic ginger account for approximately 11% of the country's ginger imports. However, that share increased to 12% in the January-August 2020 period, amounting to 8,404 tons, i.e. 85% more than the 4,500 tons the country imported in the same period of 2019.
Peru was the main supplier of organic ginger in the United States, with an 86.5% share in the January-August 2020 period (7,267 tons). In 2019 Peru allocated 5,682 tons of organic ginger to this market.
The previous main supplier was China. In previous years, China accounted for more than 80% of all US organic ginger imports. However, in the January-August 2020 period, China's share has fallen to only 4.7% of all US imports.
Source: agraria.pe