Explorer
The world trade network, 2024
$23.5tn of trade · 235 economies · 31,789 flows
Open the explorerTen chains, from ore to product
All chains- 5 rungs · 13 stages
Lithium-ion batteries and electric cars
China ships three-fifths of lithium-ion cells and three-quarters of lithium hydroxide (2024) - 8 rungs · 14 stages
Chips and electronics
China ships two-thirds of the world’s phones, and Taiwan leads chip exports (2024) - 6 rungs · 7 stages
Solar photovoltaics
China ships most solar modules, Germany and the US most polysilicon (2024) - 6 rungs · 12 stages
Steel and cars
Australia ships half the iron ore, and China’s flat-steel share doubled (2024) - 5 rungs · 7 stages
Aluminium
Guinea ships two-thirds of the bauxite, nine-tenths of it to China (2024) - 5 rungs · 7 stages
Copper and electrification
No exporter holds 30% of any stage of the copper chain (2024) - 5 rungs · 6 stages
Rare earths, magnets and motors
China ships nearly two-thirds of the world’s permanent magnets (2024) - 6 rungs · 9 stages
Oil and gas to plastics
No exporter holds more than 26% of any stage of the plastics chain (2024) - 4 rungs · 6 stages
Cotton and polyester to clothing
China ships more than half the world’s fabric, up from 44% (2024) - 4 rungs · 8 stages
Gas and minerals to fertilisers and crops
Canada leads potash, Russia nitrogen and Morocco phosphates (2024)
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, 2024; mirror rule. The network: all goods, the largest economies as clusters of dabs sized by exports plus imports and coloured by region, the largest flows as brushstrokes; economies are placed by their trade ties, not by geography. The chains: HS6 stages on each chain’s own ladder; the ringed rung is the chokepoint (exporter HHI above 0.25).