Critical Materials Atlas
Country profile · import dependency

Saudi Arabia — critical-material dependency

Saudi Arabia imports 28 of the 32 critical materials this atlas tracks ($1.7B). Its most supplier-concentrated dependence is magnesium, unwrought (99% from China); 9 of those imports come mainly from China.

15/100
import-vulnerability index
28
critical materials imported
$1.7B
total imports (2024)
9
mainly-from-China dependencies
19
supplier ≠ the lead miner
How to read this. Each row is where Saudi Arabia 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 (15/100). A value-weighted average, across Saudi Arabia’s imports, of each material’s supply-risk index × how concentrated Saudi Arabia’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 Saudi Arabia is most exposed.
China’s share of Saudi Arabia’s critical-material imports, 2002–2024: 0% ↑ 2%
Saudi Arabia — import sources by material (2024)
MaterialTop sourceshareimport HHIriskChina# sourcesimports
Magnesium, unwrought🇨🇳 China 99%0.996099%6$18M
Manganese ore🇿🇦 South Africa 99%0.97460%3$19M
Aluminium ores / bauxite🇧🇷 Brazil98%0.96451%6$38M
Tungsten, unwrought🇮🇳 India95%0.91500%2$12k
Ferro-vanadium🇮🇳 India94%0.88466%3$139k
Antimony, unwrought🇰🇷 South Korea94%0.88350%2$85k
Arsenic🇮🇳 India88%0.78310%2$8k
Helium🇶🇦 Qatar87%0.76211%6$13M
Palladium, unwrought🇩🇪 Germany86%0.75250%3$7k
Cobalt oxides & hydroxides🇬🇧 United Kingdom74%0.56520%6$724k
Silicon, < 99.99%🇨🇳 China 71%0.554771%6$2M
Fluorspar, >97% CaF2🇨🇳 China 71%0.565071%3$103k
Coking coal🇬🇧 United Kingdom70%0.58220%7$11M
Refined copper cathodes🇨🇩 Congo [DRC]59%0.43240%7$1.5B
Ferro-niobium🇧🇷 Brazil 58%0.456432%5$7M
Tantalum, unwrought🇨🇳 China57%0.403357%4$28k
Germanium🇨🇳 China 55%0.434755%3$14k
Gallium🇨🇳 China 55%0.435855%3$14k
Hafnium, unwrought🇨🇳 China55%0.433355%3$14k
Platinum, unwrought🇨🇳 China54%0.433954%6$325k
Nickel, unwrought🇦🇺 Australia54%0.40320%6$2M
Titanium, unwrought🇬🇧 United Kingdom54%0.34436%13$2M
Lithium carbonate🇩🇪 Germany54%0.446539%5$455k
Natural borates🇳🇱 Netherlands49%0.33410%4$460k
Baryte🇮🇳 India 49%0.381513%7$121M
Rare-earth permanent magnets🇨🇳 China 48%0.315248%15$5M
Natural graphite🇺🇸 United States40%0.285111%8$172k
Feldspar🇮🇳 India32%0.252716%8$5M
See Saudi Arabia'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.