M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
Corn industry worldwide - statistics & facts
With a production volume of around 1.2 billion metric tons, corn took the global lead among the most important grains produced all over the world. The United States alone is responsible for almost one third of global corn production, with approximately 86 million acres of land devoted for corn harvesting in 2023. The U.S. and China together account for more than half of worldwide corn production. Corn production in China exceeded 280 million metric tons in 2023.
International trade
As the global leader in corn production, the United States was also the leading exporter of corn worldwide, with an export volume of about 58 million metric tons. In that year, the two main recipients of U.S. corn exports were Mexico and China. The trade value of U.S. corn exports amounted to over 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. On the import side, European Union had the highest volume of corn imports that year. Despite high corn production in China, the country is also one of the biggest importers of corn in the world with 23 million metric tons import volume as of 2023/2024.Corn consumption
United States and the EU are the leading consumers of corn worldwide.Global consumption of corn amounted to over 45 billion bushels annually. A significant share of the corn grown in the United States is processed into ethanol to be utilized as animal feed or to manufacture high fructose corn syrup. Of the total corn utilized in the United States, about five billion metric bushels went to the production of ethanol and other by-products. In 2023, the average American consumed 4.9 pounds of fresh sweet corn per capita, a decrease from about 9.2 pounds of sweet corn in 2010.
