Chain · Gas and minerals to fertilisers and crops

Canada leads potash, Russia nitrogen and Morocco phosphates (2024)

In 2024 Canada shipped 42% of potash, Russia 18% of nitrogen fertilisers and Morocco 28% of phosphate fertilisers, and China bought 34% of the traded wheat, maize and soybeans.

8stages from ore to product
$171.1bnlargest stage, 2024: Wheat, maize and soybeans
Noneno chokepoint in 2024
United States · GL 0.93most two-way stage, 2024: Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)

YearFocus economy

The chain in 2024

Feedstock

Natural gas

2711.112711.21

$349.7bn · $0.01/kgAUS 14%

Use share ~4% · Saygin et al., 2020 dataalso in Oil and gas to plastics

S1 Gas and phosphate rock

Feedstock

Natural gas

2711.112711.21

$349.7bn · $0.01/kgAUS 14%

Use share ~4% · Saygin et al., 2020 dataalso in Oil and gas to plastics

Phosphate rock

2510.102510.20

$4.6bn · $0.15/kgJOR 23%

S2 Ammonia and phosphoric acid

Ammonia

2814.10

$8.6bn · $0.48/kgTTO 19%

Phosphoric acid

2809.20

$5.4bn · $0.85/kgMAR 28%

S3 Fertilisers

Nitrogen fertilisers (urea, ammonium nitrate)

3102.103102.30

$24.1bn · $0.37/kgRUS 18%

Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)

3105.303105.40

$18.2bn · $0.62/kgMAR 28%

Potash (potassium chloride)

3104.20

$19.0bn · $0.3/kgCAN 42%

S4 Crops

Wheat, maize and soybeans

1001.991005.901201.90

$171.1bn · $0.34/kgBRA 34%

World trade and top exporter by stage, 2024; unit value where net weight covers at least 80% of value. Chokepoint: the stage worth at least $1bn with the highest exporter HHI, when above 0.25. Dashed: side inputs and feedstocks, which join from above. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

Who trades each stage, 2024

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Size

Imports | ExportsHalf-disc area ∝ value; one scale for every year

Phosphate rock, 2024

World trade, 2024: $4.6bn

Top exporters, 2024

JOR 23%
MAR 19%
PER 14%
EGY 10%
TGO 8%
Others 26%

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 explorer

Why 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 · Gas and phosphate rockFeedstock

S1 · Natural gas

2711.112711.21

World trade, 2024$349.7bn×1.5 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.01/kg2019: $0.37/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.08unconcentrated · 2019: 0.08
96 exportersAUS 14%98% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	AUS Australia	13.6	15.9
2	USA United States	13.2	7.6
3	QAT Qatar	12.6	13.3
4	RUS Russia	11.1	11.5
5	NOR Norway	7.2	–

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	CHN China	18.7	18.0
2	JPN Japan	11.8	16.9
3	KOR Korea	8.4	8.7
4	FRA France	7.3	5.1
5	ITA Italy	6.9	6.4

Natural gas, 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 4% of world gas supply goes to ammonia production. The map shows the whole flow, because that is what crossed the border; the trail draws 4% of it solid. Source: Saygin et al., Ammonia Production from Clean Hydrogen and the Implications for Global Natural Gas Demand, Sustainability 15(2), 1623 (2023), data for 2020.

Also in another chain

This stage also feeds Oil and gas to plastics; where both chains use the same code, it is one network, shown in each.

Downstream · S2

Ammonia$0.48/kg · TTO 19%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

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 · Gas and phosphate rock

S1 · Phosphate rock

2510.102510.20

World trade, 2024$4.6bn×1.7 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.15/kg2019: $0.1/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.13unconcentrated · 2019: 0.16
89 exportersJOR 23%98% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	JOR Jordan	22.8	17.5
2	MAR Morocco	18.6	30.5
3	PER Peru	14.5	11.4
4	EGY Egypt	10.3	7.2
5	TGO Togo	7.9	–

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	IND India	39.3	28.9
2	USA United States	9.6	6.0
3	BEL Belgium	4.6	–
4	CHN China	4.4	–
5	IDN Indonesia	4.4	7.3

Phosphate rock, 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 100% 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.

Downstream · S2

Phosphoric acid$0.85/kg · MAR 28%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

S2 · Ammonia and phosphoric acid

S2 · Ammonia

2814.10

World trade, 2024$8.6bn×1.5 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.48/kg2019: $0.29/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.09unconcentrated · 2019: 0.10
83 exportersTTO 19%99% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	TTO Trinidad and Tobago	18.7	20.2
2	SAU Saudi Arabia	13.4	10.0
3	IDN Indonesia	8.8	9.6
4	CAN Canada	8.6	6.7
5	USA United States	7.7	–

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	MAR Morocco	20.7	6.9
2	USA United States	14.2	13.1
3	IND India	11.5	13.8
4	KOR Korea	5.7	7.1
5	BEL Belgium	4.4	–

United States imports $1.2bn and exports $659m of this stage. Imports average $0.59/kg, exports $0.49/kg. Main suppliers: Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria. Main buyers: Morocco, Norway, Chile.

Ammonia, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

Upstream · S1

Natural gas$0.01/kg · AUS 14%

Downstream · S3

Nitrogen fertilisers (urea, ammonium nitrate)$0.37/kg · RUS 18%Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)$0.62/kg · MAR 28%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

S2 · Ammonia and phosphoric acid

S2 · Phosphoric acid

2809.20

World trade, 2024$5.4bn×1.2 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.85/kg2019: $0.7/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.13unconcentrated · 2019: 0.17
102 exportersMAR 28%98% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	MAR Morocco	28.0	35.7
2	CHN China	13.1	10.4
3	JOR Jordan	12.5	10.5
4	SEN Senegal	8.4	8.7
5	ISR Israel	7.6	–

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	IND India	36.7	43.2
2	PAK Pakistan	7.6	6.4
3	USA United States	5.9	4.6
4	NLD Netherlands	5.2	4.7
5	TUR Türkiye	4.4	3.7

United States imports $322m and exports $253m of this stage. Imports average $0.96/kg, exports $0.87/kg. Main suppliers: Mexico, Belgium, Morocco. Main buyers: Mexico, India, Canada.

Phosphoric acid, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

What trade cannot see here

Fertiliser-grade acid is most of the tonnage; food and industrial grades share the code.

Upstream · S1

Phosphate rock$0.15/kg · JOR 23%

Downstream · S3

Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)$0.62/kg · MAR 28%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

No monthly series for this stage.

S3 · Fertilisers

S3 · Nitrogen fertilisers (urea, ammonium nitrate)

3102.103102.30

World trade, 2024$24.1bn×1.3 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.37/kg2019: $0.29/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.07unconcentrated · 2019: 0.07
135 exportersRUS 18%97% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	RUS Russia	18.3	15.5
2	OMN Oman	11.3	–
3	QAT Qatar	7.5	8.3
4	SAU Saudi Arabia	7.0	6.7
5	EGY Egypt	6.9	7.9

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	BRA Brazil	13.5	10.5
2	IND India	9.7	17.3
3	USA United States	8.1	8.5
4	AUS Australia	6.4	–
5	THA Thailand	4.1	3.8

United States imports $2.0bn and exports $663m of this stage. Imports average $0.36/kg, exports $0.42/kg. Main suppliers: Russia, Qatar, Canada. Main buyers: Canada, Mexico, Chile.

Nitrogen fertilisers (urea, ammonium nitrate), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

Upstream · S2

Ammonia$0.48/kg · TTO 19%

Downstream · S4

Wheat, maize and soybeans$0.34/kg · BRA 34%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

S3 · Fertilisers

S3 · Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)

3105.303105.40

World trade, 2024$18.2bn×1.6 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.62/kg2019: $0.39/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.17moderate · 2019: 0.16
98 exportersMAR 28%89% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	MAR Morocco	27.9	19.4
2	CHN China	20.1	25.9
3	SAU Saudi Arabia	17.2	14.2
4	RUS Russia	14.4	13.4
5	USA United States	7.1	13.3

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	IND India	15.9	19.5
2	BRA Brazil	14.5	13.9
3	USA United States	8.1	10.2
4	CAN Canada	7.0	5.6
5	BGD Bangladesh	6.8	–

United States imports $1.5bn and exports $1.3bn of this stage. Imports average $0.63/kg, exports $0.64/kg. Main suppliers: Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Jordan. Main buyers: Canada, Colombia, Australia.

Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

Upstream · S2

Ammonia$0.48/kg · TTO 19%Phosphoric acid$0.85/kg · MAR 28%

Downstream · S4

Wheat, maize and soybeans$0.34/kg · BRA 34%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

The chain’s chokepoint in 1997, 1998.

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

S3 · Fertilisers

S3 · Potash (potassium chloride)

3104.20

World trade, 2024$19.0bn×1.2 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.3/kg2019: $0.3/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.25moderate · 2019: 0.24
102 exportersCAN 42%99% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	CAN Canada	42.1	40.7
2	RUS Russia	24.2	17.4
3	BLR Belarus	5.7	17.2
4	DEU Germany	5.2	6.3
5	ISR Israel	5.1	6.4

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	BRA Brazil	22.3	22.9
2	CHN China	19.8	16.7
3	USA United States	19.6	17.9
4	IND India	5.9	7.6
5	IDN Indonesia	5.3	5.4

Potash (potassium chloride), 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

What trade cannot see here

Mined and refined in one place, so the ore never trades; the first traded form is the fertiliser.

Downstream · S4

Wheat, maize and soybeans$0.34/kg · BRA 34%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

The chain’s chokepoint in 2022, 2025.

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

S4 · Crops

S4 · Wheat, maize and soybeans

1001.991005.901201.90

World trade, 2024$171.1bn×1.3 vs 2019
Unit value, 2024$0.34/kg2019: $0.27/kg
Exporter concentration, 20240.19moderate · 2019: 0.16
169 exportersBRA 34%93% of value from importers’ reports

Top exporters, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world exports, %	2019, %
1	BRA Brazil	34.4	27.5
2	USA United States	22.6	24.5
3	UKR Ukraine	7.1	7.8
4	ARG Argentina	6.9	10.4
5	CAN Canada	4.8	5.1

Top importers, 2024

#	Economy	Share of world imports, %	2019, %
1	CHN China	34.2	28.8
2	JPN Japan	4.3	5.1
3	IDN Indonesia	3.2	3.2
4	ESP Spain	3.2	3.1
5	KOR Korea	2.9	–

Wheat, maize and soybeans, 2024: shares of world exports and imports. Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

Upstream · S3

Nitrogen fertilisers (urea, ammonium nitrate)$0.37/kg · RUS 18%Phosphate fertilisers (DAP, MAP)$0.62/kg · MAR 28%Potash (potassium chloride)$0.3/kg · CAN 42%

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Exporter concentration (HHI), 1995–2025

The chain’s chokepoint in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

Source: UN Comtrade, Final data, HS6; mirror rule.

World trade, 12-month sum, by month

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.