Critical Materials Atlas
Country profile · import dependency

Japan — critical-material dependency

Japan imports 32 of the 32 critical materials this atlas tracks ($30.7B). Its most supplier-concentrated dependence is tungsten, unwrought (100% from China); 14 of those imports come mainly from China.

17/100
import-vulnerability index
32
critical materials imported
$30.7B
total imports (2024)
14
mainly-from-China dependencies
16
supplier ≠ the lead miner
How to read this. Each row is where Japan 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 (17/100). A value-weighted average, across Japan’s imports, of each material’s supply-risk index × how concentrated Japan’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 Japan is most exposed.
China’s share of Japan’s critical-material imports, 2002–2024: 15% ↓ 3%
Japan — import sources by material (2024)
MaterialTop sourceshareimport HHIriskChina# sourcesimports
Tungsten, unwrought🇨🇳 China 100%1.0050100%4$35M
Natural borates🇹🇷 Turkey 99%0.98411%3$6M
Phosphorus🇻🇳 Vietnam99%0.98560%6$91M
Magnesium, unwrought🇨🇳 China 98%0.966098%6$55M
Ferro-niobium🇧🇷 Brazil 97%0.95640%6$175M
Natural graphite🇨🇳 China 95%0.915195%8$8M
Baryte🇨🇳 China95%0.901595%6$8M
Platinum, unwrought🇿🇦 South Africa 84%0.71390%14$1.4B
Arsenic🇩🇪 Germany82%0.703118%2$236k
Titanium, unwrought🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia80%0.654314%6$71M
Beryllium, unwrought🇨🇳 China78%0.667478%2$52k
Aluminium ores / bauxite🇨🇳 China77%0.644577%6$16M
Fluorspar, >97% CaF2🇨🇳 China 73%0.605073%7$9M
Coking coal🇦🇺 Australia 68%0.49220%10$24.6B
Silicon, < 99.99%🇨🇳 China 67%0.474767%10$380M
Ferro-vanadium🇨🇳 China 61%0.434661%6$46M
Manganese ore🇿🇦 South Africa 60%0.48461%6$203M
Strontium carbonate🇩🇪 Germany58%0.425721%6$11M
Nickel, unwrought🇦🇺 Australia58%0.38320%7$857M
Phosphate rock🇨🇳 China 55%0.513055%2$12M
Cobalt oxides & hydroxides🇫🇮 Finland51%0.415212%7$15M
Lithium carbonate🇨🇱 Chile50%0.376516%6$215M
Helium🇺🇸 United States 46%0.332113%7$198M
Palladium, unwrought🇿🇦 South Africa43%0.28250%14$1.3B
Refined copper cathodes🇳🇬 Nigeria38%0.29240%6$61M
Feldspar🇰🇷 South Korea38%0.242712%6$4M
Rare-earth permanent magnets🇵🇭 Philippines33%0.275228%12$563M
Tantalum, unwrought🇩🇪 Germany32%0.25331%5$31M
Antimony, unwrought🇨🇳 China 28%0.223528%8$89M
Germanium🇨🇳 China 24%0.164724%14$68M
Gallium🇨🇳 China 24%0.165824%14$68M
Hafnium, unwrought🇨🇳 China24%0.163324%14$68M
See Japan'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.