Chain · Lithium-ion batteries and electric cars
China ships three-fifths of lithium-ion cells and three-quarters of lithium hydroxide (2024)
In 2024 China shipped 60% of the world’s lithium-ion cells and 77% of its lithium hydroxide, the chain’s chokepoint, while Korea (56%) and China (27%) led the exports of cathode material.
- 13stages from ore to product
- $199.6bnlargest stage, 2024: Battery-electric and plug-in cars
- HHI 0.61chokepoint, 2024: Lithium hydroxide
- Korea · GL 0.99most two-way stage, 2024: Lithium-ion cells and packs
The chain in 2024
Nickel mattes and intermediates (incl. MHP)
Who trades each stage, 2024
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Lithium hydroxide, 2024
World trade, 2024: $2.6bn
Lithium hydroxide is the chain’s chokepoint in 2024: HHI 0.61, CHN 77% of exports.
The ring shows the stage of this chain the economy leads; a dashed rowan ring marks an economy with more than half of the stage’s exports. Click an economy to follow its flows (exports gold, imports teal).
Open in the explorerWhy do some economies both import and export the same stage?
- Different goods under one code. A six-digit code can hold cheap and costly versions of a product: 2506.10 covers quartzite lumps and high-purity quartz worth many times more per kilogram.
- Processing and hub trade. Goods come in, are refined or assembled, and go out again.
- Firms and regions. Firms or regions within one economy buy and sell for their own reasons, such as a firm shipping inputs to its own plants abroad.
- How trade is recorded. Under the mirror rule an economy’s imports may come from its own reports and its exports from its partners’; origin and consignment, re-exports and misclassification can make one side larger.
“↔ two-way” marks an economy whose Grubel–Lloyd index is at least 0.3 and whose exports and imports are each at least 2% of world trade in the stage. The sentences under a stage give the numbers, never the reason. How two-way trade is measured
S1 · Ores and graphite
S1 · Lithium ore (spodumene concentrate)
- World trade, 2024$6.5bn
- Unit value, 2024$0.36/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.30
- 175 exportersAUS 53%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AUS Australia | 52.8 | 45.7 |
| 2 | ZWE Zimbabwe | 12.6 | – |
| 3 | BRA Brazil | 4.3 | – |
| 4 | USA United States | 4.0 | 6.1 |
| 5 | NGA Nigeria | 3.2 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 79.5 | 53.0 |
| 2 | KOR Korea | 2.3 | – |
| 3 | USA United States | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| 4 | IND India | 1.3 | – |
| 5 | FRA France | 1.1 | 2.9 |
Lithium ore (spodumene concentrate), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Residual code: it holds other products too
Residual code "mineral substances n.e.c."; lithium concentrate dominates it only since the 2021-23 price boom. Brine lithium (Chile, Argentina) never trades as ore.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S1 · Ores and graphite
S1 · Nickel ore
- World trade, 2024$4.4bn
- Unit value, 2024$0.08/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.25
- 55 exportersPHL 47%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PHL Philippines | 47.2 | 30.7 |
| 2 | ZMB Zambia | 10.8 | – |
| 3 | NCL New Caledonia | 7.9 | 9.8 |
| 4 | RUS Russia | 7.4 | – |
| 5 | AUS Australia | 5.5 | 6.0 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 61.1 | 81.2 |
| 2 | IDN Indonesia | 10.5 | – |
| 3 | CAN Canada Canada
| 7.8 | – |
| 4 | FIN Finland Finland
| 6.7 | 4.6 |
| 5 | NAM Namibia | 5.5 | – |
Canada imports $343m and exports $107m of this stage. Imports average $7.1/kg, exports $1.4/kg. Main suppliers: United States, Finland, Zambia. Main buyers: Finland, Brazil, China.
Nickel ore, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Indonesia banned ore exports in 2020, so its ore now shows up only as intermediates and nickel pig iron.
The chain’s chokepoint in 2004, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S1 · Ores and graphite
S1 · Cobalt ore
- World trade, 2024$39m
- Unit value, 2024–
- Exporter concentration, 20240.72
- 36 exportersCOD 84%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | COD DR Congo | 84.5 | 87.3 |
| 2 | LAO Laos | 8.1 | – |
| 3 | ZMB Zambia | 2.0 | 1.5 |
| 4 | GBR UK | 1.0 | – |
| 5 | NLD Netherlands | 1.0 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MAR Morocco | 47.6 | 12.6 |
| 2 | TWN Taiwan | 43.1 | – |
| 3 | CHN China | 3.8 | 77.1 |
| 4 | FIN Finland | 0.9 | 4.5 |
| 5 | BEL Belgium | 0.6 | – |
Cobalt ore, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Most Congolese cobalt leaves as hydroxide (the S2 stage), not as ore.
The chain’s chokepoint in 2008, 2010, 2011.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S1 · Ores and graphite
S1 · Natural graphite
- World trade, 2024$616m
- Unit value, 2024$1.3/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.28
- 101 exportersCHN 50%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 50.4 | 45.4 |
| 2 | MDG Madagascar | 10.4 | 6.3 |
| 3 | MOZ Mozambique | 7.1 | 13.7 |
| 4 | DEU Germany Germany
| 6.4 | 6.1 |
| 5 | BRA Brazil | 3.7 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA United States | 24.2 | 9.7 |
| 2 | DEU Germany Germany
| 11.5 | 7.7 |
| 3 | JPN Japan | 10.0 | 16.6 |
| 4 | KOR Korea Korea
| 7.3 | 15.0 |
| 5 | IND India | 7.0 | – |
Germany imports $71m and exports $39m of this stage. Imports average $1.3/kg, exports $2.6/kg. Main suppliers: China, Madagascar, Brazil. Main buyers: France, Sweden, Austria.
Natural graphite, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Use share: how much of this stage goes to this chain
About 32% of world graphite demand (natural and synthetic) goes to batteries for electric vehicles and storage. The map shows the whole flow, because that is what crossed the border; the trail draws 32% of it solid. Source: IEA, Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, annex table Graphite demand, p. 301, data for 2024.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S2 · Refined chemicals
S2 · Lithium carbonate
- World trade, 2024$4.0bn
- Unit value, 2024$12.7/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.59
- 54 exportersCHL 74%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHL Chile | 73.8 | 64.7 |
| 2 | ARG Argentina | 21.2 | 15.5 |
| 3 | CHN China | 1.6 | 10.9 |
| 4 | KOR Korea | 0.9 | – |
| 5 | DEU Germany | 0.8 | 1.8 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 68.8 | 16.0 |
| 2 | KOR Korea | 12.2 | 32.3 |
| 3 | JPN Japan | 6.1 | 20.8 |
| 4 | USA United States | 5.1 | 7.0 |
| 5 | NLD Netherlands | 2.8 | – |
Lithium carbonate, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Korea’s customs months: cells left out
For Jan–Sep 2026, Korea’s records come from the Korea Customs Service, whose item statistics leave out some of its imports of this stage: on Jan 2024–Dec 2025, when both sources hold Korea, they fall 12% short of its Comtrade file. Where the exporter filed, the missing flows are read from the exporter’s report and marked as such; elsewhere Korea’s imports here are understated by about that much.
Upstream · S1
Lithium ore (spodumene concentrate)Downstream · S3
Cathode active materialThe chain’s chokepoint in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2025.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S2 · Refined chemicalsChokepoint
S2 · Lithium hydroxide
- World trade, 2024$2.6bn
- Unit value, 2024$16/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.61
- 49 exportersCHN 77%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 76.7 | 65.4 |
| 2 | CHL Chile | 10.2 | 12.0 |
| 3 | USA United States | 6.9 | 9.5 |
| 4 | AUS Australia | 3.6 | – |
| 5 | RUS Russia | 0.7 | 6.3 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KOR Korea | 62.7 | 35.9 |
| 2 | JPN Japan | 24.3 | 45.2 |
| 3 | CHN China | 4.4 | – |
| 4 | SWE Sweden | 2.0 | – |
| 5 | POL Poland | 1.1 | – |
Lithium hydroxide, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Also holds lithium oxide.
Upstream · S1
Lithium ore (spodumene concentrate)Downstream · S3
Cathode active materialThe chain’s chokepoint in 2019, 2021, 2024.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S2 · Refined chemicals
S2 · Nickel mattes and intermediates (incl. MHP)
- World trade, 2024$14.5bn
- Unit value, 2024$5.1/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.35
- 66 exportersIDN 57%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IDN Indonesia | 57.0 | 16.7 |
| 2 | CAN Canada | 10.3 | 23.1 |
| 3 | FIN Finland Finland
| 6.7 | 10.1 |
| 4 | RUS Russia | 5.8 | 15.0 |
| 5 | PHL Philippines | 4.1 | 9.1 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 57.8 | 22.0 |
| 2 | NOR Norway | 13.8 | 23.6 |
| 3 | JPN Japan | 13.8 | 26.6 |
| 4 | FIN Finland Finland
| 4.8 | 12.5 |
| 5 | GBR UK | 2.9 | 7.2 |
Finland imports $694m and exports $971m of this stage. Imports average $7.8/kg, exports $7.1/kg. Main suppliers: Russia, Korea, Australia. Main buyers: Norway, China, France.
Nickel mattes and intermediates (incl. MHP), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Nickel sulphate (2833.24) sits here with the mattes; most mattes go to stainless steel, not batteries.
Use share: how much of this stage goes to this chain
About 15% of world nickel use goes to lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid cars (all nickel, not only these intermediates; stainless steel takes 64%). The map shows the whole flow, because that is what crossed the border; the trail draws 15% of it solid. Source: Natural Resources Canada, Nickel facts, data for 2024.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S2 · Refined chemicals
S2 · Cobalt intermediates, oxides and hydroxides
- World trade, 2024$5.1bn
- Unit value, 2024$6.6/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.44
- 72 exportersCOD 66%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | COD DR Congo | 65.7 | 44.6 |
| 2 | FIN Finland | 5.1 | 10.4 |
| 3 | CHN China | 4.6 | 7.2 |
| 4 | CAN Canada | 4.0 | 6.5 |
| 5 | USA United States United States
| 2.4 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 62.1 | 45.1 |
| 2 | USA United States United States
| 6.8 | 11.7 |
| 3 | JPN Japan Japan
| 3.0 | 9.6 |
| 4 | BEL Belgium | 3.0 | – |
| 5 | NAM Namibia | 2.8 | – |
United States imports $345m and exports $123m of this stage. Imports average $30.3/kg, exports $22.4/kg. Main suppliers: Norway, Canada, Japan. Main buyers: France, Ireland, Germany.
Cobalt intermediates, oxides and hydroxides, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S3 · Electrode materials and parts
S3 · Cathode active material
- World trade, 2024$7.5bn
- Unit value, 2024$14.2/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.40
- 95 exportersKOR 56%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KOR Korea Korea
| 56.3 | 45.4 |
| 2 | CHN China China
| 27.0 | 23.3 |
| 3 | JPN Japan Japan
| 9.2 | 20.5 |
| 4 | USA United States | 1.7 | 2.3 |
| 5 | DEU Germany | 1.1 | 2.1 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China China
| 32.8 | 44.1 |
| 2 | POL Poland | 22.3 | – |
| 3 | KOR Korea Korea
| 15.8 | 23.3 |
| 4 | JPN Japan Japan
| 5.4 | 12.7 |
| 5 | MYS Malaysia | 3.7 | 2.5 |
Korea imports $1.2bn and exports $4.2bn of this stage. Imports average $21.6/kg, exports $24.7/kg. Main suppliers: China, Japan, United States. Main buyers: China, Poland, Malaysia.
Cathode active material, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Residual code: it holds other products too
No code of its own. NCM and NCA mostly fall in 2841.90, LFP in 2842.90, and some customs put them in 3824.99. Both codes hold unrelated salts too.
Upstream · S2
Lithium carbonateLithium hydroxideNickel mattes and intermediates (incl. MHP)Cobalt intermediates, oxides and hydroxidesDownstream · S4
Lithium-ion cells and packsSource: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S3 · Electrode materials and parts
S3 · Anode graphite (artificial)
- World trade, 2024$2.3bn
- Unit value, 2024$1.9/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.37
- 84 exportersCHN 60%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 59.7 | 35.0 |
| 2 | JPN Japan Japan
| 6.7 | 13.4 |
| 3 | DEU Germany Germany
| 6.2 | – |
| 4 | USA United States United States
| 5.7 | 10.1 |
| 5 | KOR Korea Korea
| 4.6 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA United States United States
| 18.3 | 20.7 |
| 2 | MYS Malaysia | 16.7 | 7.3 |
| 3 | POL Poland | 8.6 | – |
| 4 | HUN Hungary | 7.1 | – |
| 5 | DEU Germany Germany
| 6.4 | – |
United States imports $431m and exports $134m of this stage. Imports average $3.7/kg, exports $6.7/kg. Main suppliers: China, Korea, Mexico. Main buyers: China, Germany, Korea.
Anode graphite (artificial), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Also electrodes' feedstock for steel furnaces; spherical natural graphite stays in 2504.90.
Use share: how much of this stage goes to this chain
About 32% of world graphite demand (natural and synthetic) goes to batteries for electric vehicles and storage. The map shows the whole flow, because that is what crossed the border; the trail draws 32% of it solid. Source: IEA, Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, annex table Graphite demand, p. 301, data for 2024.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S3 · Electrode materials and parts
S3 · Battery parts (separators, cans, other parts)
- World trade, 2024$10.5bn
- Unit value, 2024$11.7/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.18
- 135 exportersCHN 37%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 37.3 | 13.9 |
| 2 | KOR Korea Korea
| 12.7 | 16.3 |
| 3 | JPN Japan Japan
| 11.0 | 33.0 |
| 4 | POL Poland Poland
| 4.5 | – |
| 5 | DEU Germany Germany
| 4.0 | 3.9 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA United States | 39.1 | 27.1 |
| 2 | DEU Germany Germany
| 8.5 | 8.7 |
| 3 | POL Poland Poland
| 5.4 | 11.7 |
| 4 | CAN Canada | 4.9 | – |
| 5 | JPN Japan Japan
| 4.3 | – |
Japan imports $449m and exports $1.2bn of this stage. Imports average $32.1/kg, exports $29.6/kg. Main suppliers: China, United States, Philippines. Main buyers: United States, Singapore, China.
Battery parts (separators, cans, other parts), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Residual code: it holds other products too
Parts of every kind of accumulator, lead-acid included. Separators, cans and battery management parts travel here; electrolyte does not (it sits in residual chemical codes).
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
No monthly series for this stage.
S4 · Cells and packs
S4 · Lithium-ion cells and packs
- World trade, 2024$115.4bn
- Unit value, 2024$32.2/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.38
- 181 exportersCHN 60%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHN China | 60.2 | 42.3 |
| 2 | POL Poland | 6.2 | 6.8 |
| 3 | USA United States United States
| 5.8 | – |
| 4 | HUN Hungary | 5.6 | – |
| 5 | KOR Korea Korea
| 4.0 | 15.6 |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA United States United States
| 20.7 | 12.2 |
| 2 | DEU Germany | 20.4 | 12.0 |
| 3 | MEX Mexico | 4.9 | – |
| 4 | KOR Korea Korea
| 4.1 | – |
| 5 | VNM Vietnam | 3.9 | 5.5 |
United States imports $23.9bn and exports $6.7bn of this stage. Imports average $50.5/kg, exports $29.9/kg. Main suppliers: China, Japan, Korea. Main buyers: Mexico, Canada, Australia.
Lithium-ion cells and packs, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Phone and laptop batteries are in the same code as car packs.
Use share: how much of this stage goes to this chain
About 90% of lithium-ion battery demand is for the energy sector (electric vehicles and grid storage; EVs take over 90% of that). The map shows the whole flow, because that is what crossed the border; the trail draws 90% of it solid. Source: IEA, Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions (2024), p. 11, data for 2023.
Also in another chain
This stage also feeds Chips and electronics; where both chains use the same code, it is one network, shown in each.
Upstream · S3
Cathode active materialAnode graphite (artificial)Battery parts (separators, cans, other parts)Downstream · S5
Battery-electric and plug-in carsSource: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
S5 · Electric cars
S5 · Battery-electric and plug-in cars
- World trade, 2024$199.6bn
- Unit value, 2024$19.1/kg
- Exporter concentration, 20240.13
- 126 exportersDEU 26%
Top exporters, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world exports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DEU Germany Germany
| 25.7 | 16.5 |
| 2 | CHN China | 19.1 | – |
| 3 | JPN Japan | 7.3 | 9.0 |
| 4 | KOR Korea | 7.0 | 9.9 |
| 5 | MEX Mexico | 5.8 | – |
Top importers, 2024
| # | Economy | Share of world imports, % | 2019, % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA United States United States
| 15.9 | 12.0 |
| 2 | GBR UK UK
| 10.5 | – |
| 3 | DEU Germany Germany
| 8.9 | 10.6 |
| 4 | FRA France | 7.0 | – |
| 5 | CAN Canada | 5.0 | – |
Germany imports $17.8bn and exports $51.2bn of this stage. Imports average $19.7/kg, exports $21.2/kg. Main suppliers: China, United States, Spain. Main buyers: UK, United States, France.
Battery-electric and plug-in cars, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
What trade cannot see here
Before HS2017 electric cars were in 8703.90 with other vehicles.
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.
Source: UN Comtrade, monthly data, HS6; 12-month sum; one side per flow (the importer's report where it filed as many months). Korea, Jan–Jul 2026: Korea Customs Service, trade by item and country (data.go.kr), fetched 31 Oct 2026.
How these numbers are made
Each chain has its own ladder of stages, one rung per step of production that customs records can see: four for clothing, eight for chips. Each stage is a set of six-digit HS codes, written down once with the rung it sits on and what else its code holds. World trade is the sum of bilateral flows under the mirror rule: the importer’s report where the importer reported that year, otherwise the exporter’s. Unit value is value over net weight, shown only where weight covers at least 80% of value. HHI is the sum of squared exporter shares; 0.15 and 0.25 mark moderate and high concentration.
Customs records see goods crossing a border, not what they were for. Production used at home, codes that hold two products and codes split by HS versions are named at the stage where they matter. Use shares, where a stage mostly goes elsewhere, come from dated sources outside trade; they scale the trail, never the map. The full method
Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule. Updated 2 Nov 2026.