Sesame Seed Consumption by Country

FAO Food Balances data record 2,189 thousand tonnes of listed sesame seed food supply in 2023 across 120 reporters with reported values. China accounts for 577 thousand tonnes of that total, ahead of India at 276 thousand tonnes and Myanmar at 256 thousand tonnes. Israel records the highest per-capita food supply at 5.73 kilograms per person per year. The series spans 2019 through 2023, with the same 120 reporters present in every comparison window.

China leads the 2023 ranking at 577 thousand tonnes, 2.09 times India at 276 thousand tonnes. Israel tops the per-capita ranking at 5.73 kilograms per person per year from 53 thousand tonnes, just ahead of Burkina Faso at 5.34 kilograms.

Sesame Seed Food Supply at a Glance

• China had the largest listed sesame seed food supply in 2023 at 577 thousand tonnes.
• India ranked second at 276 thousand tonnes, followed by Myanmar at 256 thousand tonnes.
• Israel had the highest per-capita food supply at 5.73 kilograms per person per year.
• The 2023 listed total was 2,189 thousand tonnes across 120 reporters with reported values.
• Among the same 120 reporters with data in both 2019 and 2023, listed sesame seed food supply increased by 329 thousand tonnes, or 17.7 percent.
• The FAO Food element measures food available for human consumption and is not a direct measure of the amount actually eaten.

Key Takeaways

In 2023, China led listed sesame seed food supply at 577 thousand tonnes, with India second at 276 thousand tonnes and Myanmar third at 256 thousand tonnes. Nigeria followed at 142 thousand tonnes after rebounding from 57 thousand tonnes in 2022, with Burkina Faso fifth at 123 thousand tonnes. Israel's 5.73 kilograms per person per year lead the per-capita ranking, followed by Burkina Faso at 5.34 kilograms.

Between 2022 and 2023, listed supply rose from 2,024 thousand tonnes to 2,189 thousand tonnes, a gain of 165 thousand tonnes (8.2 percent), with Nigeria's 85-thousand-tonne rebound the largest single movement. Since 2019, the total has grown 17.7 percent, with India's 182-thousand-tonne gain accounting for 55.3 percent of the increase. These figures represent food available for human consumption in the FAO Food Balances and should not be interpreted as the amount of sesame seed actually eaten.

Sesame Seed Consumption

Export

Excel (.xlsx) CSV Document PDF Document PNG Image

#	Country	2023 (thousand tonnes)2023	2023 (kg per person per year)2023
1	China CN	577	0.41
2	India IN	276	0.19
3	Myanmar MM	256	4.73
4	Nigeria NG	142	0.62
5	Burkina Faso BF	123	5.34
6	Brazil BR	95	0.45
7	Niger NE	88	3.37
8	Türkiye TR	63	0.72
9	Israel IL	53	5.73
10	Uganda UG	50	1.02
11	Egypt EG	34	0.3
12	Cameroon CM	32	1.12
13	South Korea KR	26	0.5
14	Ethiopia ET	25	0.2
15	United States US	25	0.07
16	Thailand TH	23	0.32
17	Guatemala GT	22	1.2
18	Jordan JO	16	1.44
19	Senegal SN	15	0.84
20	Syria SY	15	0.63
21	Iran IR	14	0.16
22	Greece GR	13	1.23
23	Tunisia TN	12	1.01
24	Zimbabwe ZW	11	0.69
25	Indonesia ID	10	0.04
26	Uzbekistan UZ	10	0.28
27	Cambodia KH	9	0.54
28	Russia RU	9	0.06
29	Afghanistan AF	8	0.19
30	Canada CA	8	0.2
31	Iraq IQ	8	0.2
32	Lebanon LB	8	1.32
33	Yemen YE	8	0.2
34	Algeria DZ	7	0.16
35	Laos LA	7	0.87
36	Morocco MA	7	0.18
37	Paraguay PY	7	0.97
38	Sri Lanka LK	7	0.29
39	United Arab Emirates AE	7	0.61
40	DR Congo CD	4	0.04
41	Haiti HT	4	0.33
42	Oman OM	4	0.87
43	Spain ES	4	0.09
44	Taiwan TW	4	0.18
45	United Kingdom GB	4	0.06
46	Angola AO	3	0.08
47	Kuwait KW	3	0.62
48	Sierra Leone SL	3	0.32
49	Tajikistan TJ	3	0.29
50	Colombia CO	2	0.03
51	Ivory Coast CI	2	0.06
52	Kenya KE	2	0.03
53	Nepal NP	2	0.05
54	Netherlands NL	2	0.14
55	Peru PE	2	0.07
56	Philippines PH	2	0.02
57	Romania RO	2	0.09
58	Bolivia BO	1	0.11
59	Bulgaria BG	1	0.12
60	Cyprus CY	1	0.98
61	El Salvador SV	1	0.14
62	Hungary HU	1	0.09
63	Libya LY	1	0.18
64	New Zealand NZ	1	0.16
65	North Macedonia MK	1	0.32
66	Norway NO	1	0.27
67	Sweden SE	1	0.08
68	Switzerland CH	1	0.12
69	Antigua and Barbuda AG	0	0.04
70	Armenia AM	0	0.04
71	Austria AT	0	0.05
72	Bahamas BS	0	0.02
73	Bahrain BH	0	0.25
74	Barbados BB	0	0.09
75	Belize BZ	0	0
76	Botswana BW	0	0.01
77	Chile CL	0	0.01
78	Congo CG	0	0.04
79	Croatia HR	0	0.11
80	Djibouti DJ	0	0.03
81	Dominican Republic DO	0	0.03
82	Ecuador EC	0	0.02
83	Fiji FJ	0	0.03
84	Finland FI	0	0.04
85	French Polynesia PF	0	0.02
86	Gabon GA	0	0.01
87	Gambia GM	0	0
88	Georgia GE	0	0.07
89	Grenada GD	0	0.05
90	Guinea GN	0	0.03
91	Guyana GY	0	0.02
92	Hong Kong HK	0	0.05
93	Ireland IE	0	0.06
94	Jamaica JM	0	0.01
95	Latvia LV	0	0.09
96	Luxembourg LU	0	0.2
97	Macau MO	0	0.09
98	Malaysia MY	0	0.01
99	Maldives MV	0	0.06
100	Malta MT	0	0.2
101	Marshall Islands MH	0	0.01
102	Mauritius MU	0	0.08
103	Mexico MX	0	0
104	Moldova MD	0	0.08
105	Mongolia MN	0	0.01
106	Montenegro ME	0	0.23
107	Namibia NA	0	0.01
108	Nauru NR	0	0
109	New Caledonia NC	0	0.06
110	Nicaragua NI	0	0.01
111	Qatar QA	0	0.12
112	Saint Lucia LC	0	0
113	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VC	0	0
114	Seychelles SC	0	0
115	Slovakia SK	0	0.05
116	Slovenia SI	0	0.05
117	Suriname SR	0	0
118	Timor-Leste TL	0	0
119	Trinidad and Tobago TT	0	0.05
120	Uruguay UY	0	0.04

Sesame Seed Consumption by Country in 2023

China recorded 577 thousand tonnes, or 26.4 percent of the 2,189-thousand-tonne listed total. India follows at 276 thousand tonnes (12.6 percent) and Myanmar at 256 thousand tonnes (11.7 percent), with Nigeria fourth at 142 thousand tonnes and Burkina Faso fifth at 123 thousand tonnes.

The top three reporters account for 50.7 percent of the listed total, while the top five account for 62.8 percent and the top ten account for 78.7 percent. Every reporter in the universe has values in all five years, so the ranking reflects pure quantity movements with no composition effects.

Nigeria Rebounds 85 Thousand Tonnes as Supply Grows 8.2 Percent Between 2022 and 2023

Among the same 120 reporters with data in both 2022 and 2023, the listed food supply increased from 2,024 thousand tonnes to 2,189 thousand tonnes, a gain of 165 thousand tonnes (8.2 percent). Nigeria added 85 thousand tonnes (up 149.1 percent), rebounding from 57 to 142 thousand tonnes, while India added 29 thousand tonnes (up 11.7 percent), Türkiye added 16 thousand tonnes (up 34.0 percent), Guatemala added 15 thousand tonnes (up 214.3 percent) and Myanmar added 12 thousand tonnes (up 4.9 percent). Iran fell 25 thousand tonnes (down 64.1 percent), Afghanistan fell 18 thousand tonnes (down 69.2 percent) and South Korea fell 13 thousand tonnes (down 33.3 percent).

India Nearly Triples as Supply Grows 17.7 Percent Since 2019

For the same 120 reporters, the listed food supply rose from 1,860 thousand tonnes in 2019 to 2,189 thousand tonnes in 2023, a gain of 329 thousand tonnes (17.7 percent). India added 182 thousand tonnes (up 193.6 percent), China added 62 thousand tonnes (up 12.0 percent), Brazil added 41 thousand tonnes (up 75.9 percent), Ethiopia added 20 thousand tonnes (up 400.0 percent), Senegal added 13 thousand tonnes (up 650.0 percent), Türkiye added 13 thousand tonnes (up 26.0 percent) and the United States added 12 thousand tonnes (up 92.3 percent), while Cambodia fell 19 thousand tonnes (down 67.9 percent).

India's trajectory defines the five-year window: from 94 to 276 thousand tonnes, its 182-thousand-tonne gain exceeds the combined gains of China, Brazil and Ethiopia. Nigeria ends the window nearly where it began, at 142 thousand tonnes against 143 in 2019, after dipping to 57 thousand tonnes in between. Per capita, Israel's 5.73 kilograms from 53 thousand tonnes lead Burkina Faso at 5.34 kilograms, while China, first by total, records 0.41 kilograms.

What Does Sesame Seed Consumption Measure?

For FAO Food Balances, the sesame seed figure used here covers sesame seed recorded under the Food element as available for human consumption. It represents food available for human consumption during the reference year, rather than a direct estimate of how much sesame seed people actually consumed. Seed crushed for oil or used for other purposes is recorded elsewhere and sits outside this figure.

The per-capita figure expresses the same food supply on a population basis, in kilograms per person per year. A country's total quantity and per-capita value therefore answer different questions: total quantity shows the size of the listed food supply, while the per-capita measure adjusts it for population.

Sesame Seed Consumption by Country

Download

Excel (.xlsx) CSV PDF PNG

#	Country	2019 (1000 t)	2019 (kg/cap/yr)	2020 (1000 t)	2020 (kg/cap/yr)	2021 (1000 t)	2021 (kg/cap/yr)	2022 (1000 t)	2022 (kg/cap/yr)	2023 (1000 t)	2023 (kg/cap/yr)
1	China	515	0.36	520	0.36	618	0.43	569	0.4	577	0.41
2	India	94	0.07	170	0.12	241	0.17	247	0.17	276	0.19
3	Myanmar	256	4.86	196	3.7	219	4.1	244	4.54	256	4.73
4	Nigeria	143	0.68	71	0.33	122	0.56	57	0.26	142	0.62
5	Burkina Faso	120	5.72	120	5.59	120	5.46	120	5.33	123	5.34
6	Brazil	54	0.26	6	0.03	33	0.16	90	0.43	95	0.45
7	Niger	85	3.72	76	3.22	73	3	86	3.38	88	3.37
8	Türkiye	50	0.58	61	0.71	57	0.66	47	0.54	63	0.72
9	Israel	58	6.74	55	6.28	50	5.57	50	5.51	53	5.73
10	Uganda	44	1.01	41	0.93	44	0.95	42	0.89	50	1.02
11	Egypt	32	0.3	45	0.41	24	0.21	28	0.25	34	0.3
12	Cameroon	32	1.25	33	1.24	34	1.24	35	1.25	32	1.12
13	South Korea	34	0.65	32	0.63	44	0.85	39	0.75	26	0.5
14	Ethiopia	5	0.05	8	0.07	4	0.03	17	0.14	25	0.2
15	United States	13	0.04	20	0.06	22	0.07	28	0.08	25	0.07
16	Thailand	24	0.34	25	0.35	20	0.28	22	0.31	23	0.32
17	Guatemala	29	1.67	26	1.5	24	1.36	7	0.36	22	1.2
18	Jordan	12	1.1	15	1.35	15	1.33	14	1.22	16	1.44
19	Senegal	2	0.14	10	0.58	6	0.34	13	0.71	15	0.84
20	Syria	6	0.31	7	0.33	3	0.15	8	0.34	15	0.63
21	Iran	21	0.24	29	0.33	38	0.42	39	0.43	14	0.16
22	Greece	12	1.1	11	1.07	15	1.42	13	1.22	13	1.23
23	Tunisia	12	1.03	14	1.19	9	0.76	11	0.92	12	1.01
24	Zimbabwe	0	0	5	0.3	11	0.71	8	0.47	11	0.69
25	Indonesia	9	0.03	8	0.03	8	0.03	10	0.04	10	0.04
26	Uzbekistan	5	0.14	7	0.2	8	0.23	7	0.2	10	0.28
27	Cambodia	28	1.7	28	1.69	10	0.58	9	0.55	9	0.54
28	Russia	10	0.07	8	0.06	10	0.07	9	0.06	9	0.06
29	Afghanistan	12	0.31	26	0.66	1	0.01	26	0.65	8	0.19
30	Canada	7	0.2	8	0.21	7	0.18	7	0.19	8	0.2
31	Iraq	7	0.19	8	0.21	4	0.12	6	0.17	8	0.2
32	Lebanon	9	1.47	9	1.61	7	1.22	9	1.59	8	1.32
33	Yemen	9	0.25	9	0.25	8	0.2	8	0.2	8	0.2
34	Algeria	4	0.1	6	0.15	6	0.13	7	0.16	7	0.16
35	Laos	8	1.13	7	1.01	9	1.24	7	0.94	7	0.87
36	Morocco	5	0.14	8	0.22	7	0.19	6	0.16	7	0.18
37	Paraguay	1	0.21	0	0	0	0.07	7	0.99	7	0.97
38	Sri Lanka	4	0.2	6	0.27	9	0.38	2	0.09	7	0.29
39	United Arab Emirates	5	0.58	6	0.65	4	0.43	6	0.57	7	0.61
40	DR Congo	4	0.05	4	0.04	4	0.04	4	0.04	4	0.04
41	Haiti	4	0.35	4	0.33	4	0.34	4	0.33	4	0.33
42	Oman	0	0.05	1	0.29	3	0.68	3	0.69	4	0.87
43	Spain	5	0.11	4	0.09	4	0.09	4	0.08	4	0.09
44	Taiwan	4	0.17	4	0.18	4	0.18	4	0.18	4	0.18
45	United Kingdom	6	0.09	6	0.09	7	0.11	6	0.09	4	0.06
46	Angola	3	0.09	3	0.09	3	0.09	3	0.08	3	0.08
47	Kuwait	3	0.7	4	0.81	3	0.79	3	0.55	3	0.62
48	Sierra Leone	3	0.33	3	0.34	3	0.32	3	0.32	3	0.32
49	Tajikistan	1	0.15	1	0.11	1	0.1	1	0.14	3	0.29
50	Colombia	2	0.03	1	0.03	1	0.02	1	0.01	2	0.03
51	Ivory Coast	2	0.09	2	0.08	2	0.06	2	0.06	2	0.06
52	Kenya	9	0.17	8	0.15	7	0.13	2	0.03	2	0.03
53	Nepal	1	0.04	2	0.06	2	0.06	1	0.05	2	0.05
54	Netherlands	3	0.19	4	0.2	3	0.18	2	0.12	2	0.14
55	Peru	3	0.08	3	0.08	2	0.07	2	0.06	2	0.07
56	Philippines	2	0.02	2	0.02	2	0.02	3	0.02	2	0.02
57	Romania	2	0.09	2	0.09	2	0.09	2	0.09	2	0.09
58	Bolivia	5	0.4	2	0.2	1	0.05	0	0.02	1	0.11
59	Bulgaria	1	0.13	1	0.13	1	0.13	1	0.11	1	0.12
60	Cyprus	2	1.36	2	1.2	1	1.1	1	1.11	1	0.98
61	El Salvador	1	0.21	1	0.15	1	0.13	1	0.14	1	0.14
62	Hungary	1	0.1	1	0.08	1	0.09	1	0.09	1	0.09
63	Libya	1	0.19	1	0.09	1	0.1	2	0.28	1	0.18
64	New Zealand	1	0.19	1	0.2	1	0.19	1	0.14	1	0.16
65	North Macedonia	1	0.31	1	0.32	1	0.32	0	0.27	1	0.32
66	Norway	2	0.35	1	0.27	2	0.36	2	0.35	1	0.27
67	Sweden	1	0.14	1	0.13	1	0.1	1	0.12	1	0.08
68	Switzerland	1	0.15	1	0.17	1	0.15	1	0.12	1	0.12
69	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0.02	0	0	0	0.05	0	0.07	0	0.04
70	Armenia	0	0.07	0	0.05	0	0.04	0	0.09	0	0.04
71	Austria	3	0.29	2	0.27	2	0.26	1	0.13	0	0.05
72	Bahamas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.02
73	Bahrain	0	0.27	0	0.29	0	0.08	0	0.25	0	0.25
74	Barbados	0	0.08	0	0.09	0	0.07	0	0.09	0	0.09
75	Belize	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0
76	Botswana	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0.01
77	Chile	0	0.02	0	0.02	1	0.04	0	0.02	0	0.01
78	Congo	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.04
79	Croatia	0	0.09	0	0.08	0	0.1	0	0.09	0	0.11
80	Djibouti	1	0.79	2	1.73	1	0.93	1	1.3	0	0.03
81	Dominican Republic	0	0.04	0	0.03	0	0.03	0	0.04	0	0.03
82	Ecuador	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.02
83	Fiji	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.03
84	Finland	1	0.09	1	0.1	0	0.08	0	0.07	0	0.04
85	French Polynesia	0	0.01	0	0.04	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.02
86	Gabon	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
87	Gambia	0	0.03	0	0.06	0	0	0	0	0	0
88	Georgia	0	0.04	0	0.03	0	0.04	0	0.06	0	0.07
89	Grenada	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.05
90	Guinea	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0.03
91	Guyana	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.02
92	Hong Kong	1	0.08	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.05
93	Ireland	0	0.09	0	0.09	0	0.06	0	0.05	0	0.06
94	Jamaica	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
95	Latvia	0	0.09	0	0.09	0	0.07	0	0.17	0	0.09
96	Luxembourg	0	0.26	0	0.22	0	0.2	0	0.21	0	0.2
97	Macau	0	0.08	0	0.1	0	0.09	0	0.1	0	0.09
98	Malaysia	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
99	Maldives	0	0.08	0	0.02	0	0.17	0	0.11	0	0.06
100	Malta	0	0.28	0	0.22	0	0.29	0	0.13	0	0.2
101	Marshall Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01
102	Mauritius	0	0.06	0	0.07	0	0.09	0	0.08	0	0.08
103	Mexico	4	0.03	4	0.03	1	0.01	0	0	0	0
104	Moldova	0	0.09	0	0.06	0	0.08	0	0.08	0	0.08
105	Mongolia	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.01
106	Montenegro	0	0.43	0	0.13	0	0.18	0	0.16	0	0.23
107	Namibia	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0.02	0	0.01	0	0.01
108	Nauru	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0	0	0
109	New Caledonia	0	0.03	0	0.05	0	0.08	0	0.08	0	0.06
110	Nicaragua	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.09	0	0.01
111	Qatar	0	0.1	0	0.12	0	0.1	0	0.13	0	0.12
112	Saint Lucia	0	0.01	0	0.02	0	0.02	0	0	0	0
113	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01	0	0	0	0
114	Seychelles	0	0	0	0.12	0	0.12	0	0	0	0
115	Slovakia	0	0.07	0	0.04	0	0.07	0	0.06	0	0.05
116	Slovenia	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.05	0	0.05
117	Suriname	0	0.01	0	0	0	0.01	0	0.01	0	0
118	Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.01	0	0
119	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0.02	0	0.05	0	0.06	0	0.08	0	0.05
120	Uruguay	0	0.03	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.04	0	0.04

Quick Answer

In 2023, China had the largest listed sesame seed food supply among the 120 reporters with reported values, at 577 thousand tonnes. India ranked second at 276 thousand tonnes, while Myanmar ranked third at 256 thousand tonnes. Israel had the highest per-capita sesame seed food supply at 5.73 kilograms per person per year. These FAO Food Balances figures represent food available for human consumption, not a direct measurement of sesame seed actually eaten.

Methodology

Percentage changes use the corresponding value in the earlier year as the base. Yearly totals use FAO Food Balances food quantity (Element 5142, thousand tonnes), while the per-capita figures use food supply quantity (Element 645, kg/capita/year) for Sesame seed from 2019 through 2023. The Food element represents the quantity available for human consumption during the reference period. It is not a direct measure of the quantity actually eaten, as additional losses or waste may occur after food reaches the consumer. No percentage change is shown where the base-year value is zero.

The reporter universe for this item contains 120 reporters. The tables list reporters only; aggregate rows such as World, regions and China (aggregate) are excluded, while China figures refer to the China reporter. For year-to-year comparisons, only reporters with values in both endpoint years are included in the arithmetic. A zero indicates a displayed value of zero, while an empty cell indicates that no value is available for that reporter and year.

Quantities of 1,000 thousand tonnes and above are shown as whole numbers; smaller quantities retain up to two decimals. FAO Food Balances primarily use official national statistics, with some data also estimated or imputed where applicable. The FAO dataset reports the Food element in thousand tonnes and food supply quantity in kilograms per capita per year. The 2023 listed total of 2,189 thousand tonnes is the sum of the 120 reporters with a reported 2023 value; it excludes aggregate rows and reporters without a 2023 value.