For many of us, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. While we each have our personal favorite holiday, Thanksgiving is perhaps the most popular. During this time, families and friends gather together, join parades (and watch from the sidelines) and cheer on their hometown football teams.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Thanksgiving is the food! Whether it’s fried turkey in Texas, the three bean salad in the south, cranberry relish in the northeast or arroz con gandules y pernil (pigeon pea stewed rice and pork roast) in Puerto Rico, food takes center stage at Thanksgiving.

In a nod to this food-centric holiday, we decided to check out the most popular imported food items for the month of November.

To find this info, we searched USA Trade Online, the official source for trade data, provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Given our interest in foodstuff, we focused on Schedule B numbers found in chapters one to 24.

Based on the imported value, the top three imported food items for November 2018 were frozen shrimp and prawns, beer made from malt and food preparations (like fruit and vegetable juices, compound alcoholic preparations and coffee whiteners).

Imports: November 2018
Product and Harmonized Tariff Heading	Import $	Rank
030617 Shrimp and prawns, frozen, nesoi	$462 456 422	1
220300 Beer made from malt	$376 999 659	2
210690 Food preparations, nesoi	$376 380 426	3

How does this compare to previous years? Take a look:

	Product and Harmonized Tariff Heading	Import $	Rank
Imports: November 2018	030617 Shrimp and prawns, frozen, nesoi	$462 456 422	1
	220300 Beer made from malt	$376 999 659	2
	210690 Food preparations, nesoi	$376 380 426	3
Imports: November 2017	030617 Shrimp and prawns, frozen, nesoi	$500 002 254	1
	220300 Beer made from malt	$386 650 643	2
	220421 Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must other than that of heading 2009: Other wine; grape must with fermentation prevented or arrested by the addition of alcohol (in containers less than 2 liters)	$375 304 632	3
Imports: November 2016	030617 Shrimp and prawns, frozen, nesoi	$470 754 778	1
	090111 Coffee, not roasted, not decaffeinated	$400 056 324	2
	220300 Beer made from malt	$367 974 126	3
Imports: November 2015	030617 Shrimp and prawns, frozen, nesoi	$392 401 306	1
	220300 Beer made from malt	$355 749 096	2
	220421 Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must other than that of heading 2009: Other wine; grape must with fermentation prevented or arrested by the addition of alcohol (in containers less than 2 liters)	$339 919 744	3

Seems like wine and coffee slipped a bit over the years but shrimp, prawns and beer continue to be popular November fare.

Whatever your holiday menu choices, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Want to know more about U.S. imports or exports? Check out USA Trade Online for detailed statistics or contact the Census Bureau’s Macro Analysis Branch at 1-800-549-0595, Option #4.

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021

Is this page helpful?
Thumbs Up Image

Yes

NO THANKS

255 characters maximum

255 characters maximum reached

Thank you for your feedback.
Comments or suggestions?

Top