globaltraffic.earth

How dependent is China on Myanmar?

In 2024, Myanmar sold $5.4 billion to China, 0.25% of its imports, ranking 49th among its suppliers. Its share was 0.33% in 2019 and 0.11% in 1995. In 3 products it sells more than 50% of what China buys of them (in 2, more than 75%); what China buys from Myanmar in those products (dominated value) adds up to $831 million, 0.04% of its imports.

Summary

Share of its imports
0.3%
Value imported
$5.4billion
Rank among its suppliers
49th
Products where it sells over 50%
3
Products where it sells over 75%
2
Dominated value
$831million
Share of total imports
0%

Trend

Trend in shares

Myanmar went from 0.11% to 0.25% of what China buys

Share (%)

  • Myanmar 0.25%

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearValue (USD millions)ShareRank
19951500.11%47
19961370.1%49
1997730.05%64
1998620.05%58
19991020.07%56
20001250.06%61
20011340.06%65
20021370.05%68
20031700.05%70
20042070.04%75
20052740.05%73
20062530.04%83
20073780.05%74
20086480.07%66
20096460.08%71
20109690.08%71
20111,9300.13%67
20121,6620.11%67
20133,3750.21%52
201416,1121%26
20156,2850.47%38
20165,3880.42%40
20174,8010.3%44
20185,7160.33%46
20195,6390.33%48
20205,6770.33%47
20216,4400.29%49
20229,7880.43%41
20236,9530.32%45
20245,4400.25%49

Products where Myanmar sells more than half

ProductSupplierShareSecondValue
Rare earth compoundsMyanmar59.5%Laos · 18.9%$818 million
Onions and garlicMyanmar95.2%over 75%Malaysia · 3.1%$8 million
Silkworm cocoonsMyanmar89.5%over 75%Turkey · 3.4%$5 million

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

Are there other suppliers in the world?

  • Myanmar sells 31.6% of what the world exports of rare earth compounds; next come Malaysia (15.4%), Laos (10%) and Japan (8.4%). The rest of the world exported 1.7 times what China buys from Myanmar.
  • Myanmar sells 0.59% of what the world exports of onions and garlic; next come Netherlands (10.7%), Spain (7.9%) and Mexico (5.1%). The rest of the world exported 747.3 times what China buys from Myanmar.
  • Myanmar sells 64.5% of what the world exports of silkworm cocoons; next come Tajikistan (6.9%), Kazakhstan (6%) and Azerbaijan (4.3%). The rest of the world exported 0.5 times what China buys from Myanmar.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

Seen from Myanmar

China is Myanmar’s 1st-largest customer, with 25.9% of its exports.

Sources and method

Sources and licenses

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.