Critical Materials Atlas
Country profile · import dependency

China — critical-material dependency

China imports 32 of the 32 critical materials this atlas tracks ($90.5B). Its most supplier-concentrated dependence is magnesium, unwrought (97% from South Korea)

14/100
import-vulnerability index
32
critical materials imported
$90.5B
total imports (2024)
0
mainly-from-China dependencies
26
supplier ≠ the lead miner
How to read this. Each row is where China imports a material from — the immediate customs origin, sorted by single-supplier concentration. marks a top source that is also the material's lead miner (a genuine origin); without it, the supplier is a refiner or hub and the real mine sits further upstream (open the material's profile to see where).

Import-vulnerability index (14/100). A value-weighted average, across China’s imports, of each material’s supply-risk index × how concentrated China’s own sourcing of it is. High when it buys intrinsically risky materials from a single supplier; lower when it diversifies. The risk column below is the material’s own score — multiply it by the country’s share to see where China is most exposed.
China’s share of China’s critical-material imports, 2002–2024: 0% → 0%
China — import sources by material (2024)
MaterialTop sourceshareimport HHIriskChina# sourcesimports
Magnesium, unwrought🇰🇷 South Korea97%0.95600%3$77k
Beryllium, unwrought🇰🇿 Kazakhstan97%0.94740%5$23M
Natural graphite🇹🇿 Tanzania96%0.93510%21$12M
Ferro-niobium🇧🇷 Brazil 96%0.92640%8$1.1B
Natural borates🇹🇷 Turkey 93%0.86410%7$112M
Arsenic🇯🇵 Japan84%0.73310%3$853k
Lithium carbonate🇨🇱 Chile80%0.67650%21$2.5B
Aluminium ores / bauxite🇬🇳 Guinea77%0.62450%30$9.9B
Fluorspar, >97% CaF2🇲🇳 Mongolia73%0.55500%11$10M
Titanium, unwrought🇯🇵 Japan71%0.53430%9$14M
Baryte🇱🇦 Laos65%0.45150%19$4M
Feldspar🇮🇳 India64%0.46270%24$21M
Platinum, unwrought🇿🇦 South Africa 63%0.44390%12$3.3B
Phosphorus🇯🇵 Japan62%0.52560%7$8M
Palladium, unwrought🇷🇺 Russia 61%0.43250%10$1.0B
Helium🇶🇦 Qatar59%0.42210%8$458M
Antimony, unwrought🇹🇭 Thailand58%0.45350%7$8M
Nickel, unwrought🇷🇺 Russia49%0.30320%10$1.6B
Manganese ore🇿🇦 South Africa 47%0.30460%33$3.9B
Phosphate rock🇯🇴 Jordan47%0.32300%15$163M
Strontium carbonate🇩🇪 Germany47%0.44570%8$22M
Germanium🇸🇬 Singapore46%0.34470%17$130M
Gallium🇸🇬 Singapore46%0.34580%17$130M
Hafnium, unwrought🇸🇬 Singapore46%0.34330%17$130M
Ferro-vanadium🇷🇺 Russia45%0.31460%6$7M
Tantalum, unwrought🇰🇿 Kazakhstan42%0.31330%9$3M
Refined copper cathodes🇨🇩 Congo [DRC]42%0.21240%36$32.8B
Tungsten, unwrought🇺🇸 United States39%0.31500%7$574k
Silicon, < 99.99%🇿🇦 South Africa36%0.25470%10$163M
Rare-earth permanent magnets🇯🇵 Japan34%0.19520%32$123M
Coking coal🇦🇺 Australia 26%0.21220%20$32.8B
Cobalt oxides & hydroxides🇿🇲 Zambia19%0.12520%15$7M
See China's trade on the map → All countries The origin gap

Computed from out/flows_2024.json + out/data.json by build_profiles.py. Customs records the immediate shipper, not the mine — see methodology.