How dependent is China on South Korea?

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%.

• South Korea sells 48.4% of what the world exports of chromates, permanganates and other metal salts; next come Japan (10.6%), United States (2.5%) and Germany (1.1%). The rest of the world exported 1.5 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 6.5% of what the world exports of aluminum sheet; next come Germany (12.9%), United States (7.3%) and France (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 42.6 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 30.8% of what the world exports of cast and rolled glass; next come United States (14.1%), Japan (9.7%) and Germany (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 2 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 15.1% of what the world exports of bent or worked flat glass; next come Japan (17.5%), Singapore (11.1%) and Taiwan (10.8%). The rest of the world exported 5.3 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 9% of what the world exports of pasta; next come Italy (28.2%), Turkey (5.7%) and Thailand (4.5%). The rest of the world exported 52.1 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 29.6% of what the world exports of cargo and cruise ships; next come Japan (10.9%), India (3.1%) and Germany (2.7%). The rest of the world exported 153.7 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 14.8% of what the world exports of cold-rolled flat steel; next come Japan (9.1%), Belgium (6.6%) and Taiwan (5.5%). The rest of the world exported 52.8 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 1.7% of what the world exports of steel tanks and containers; next come Germany (10%), United States (8.1%) and Italy (7.1%). The rest of the world exported 76.7 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 5.7% of what the world exports of fluorides; next come Italy (9.9%), United States (7.5%) and Germany (6.1%). The rest of the world exported 17.8 times what China buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 1.9% of what the world exports of uninsulated copper cable; next come Turkey (19.4%), Germany (14.4%) and United States (14.3%). The rest of the world exported 57.1 times what China buys from South Korea.

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

China is South Korea’s 1st-largest customer, with 20.3% of its exports.

• Trade between China and South Korea
• Who does China rely on?
• Who does South Korea rely on?
• Dependence of China on Australia
• Dependence of China on Brazil
• Dependence of China on Indonesia
• Dependence of China on Vietnam
• Dependence of China on the United States
• Dependence of China on Guinea
• Dependence of China on Japan
• Dependence of China on South Africa
• Dependence of China on Chile
• Dependence of China on New Zealand
• Dependence of China on Thailand
• Dependence of China on Canada
• Dependence of China on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Dependence of China on Russia
• Dependence of China on Switzerland
• Dependence of China on India
• Dependence of China on Germany
• Dependence of China on Kazakhstan
• Dependence of China on the Philippines
• Dependence of China on France
• Dependence of China on Denmark
• Dependence of China on Namibia
• Dependence of China on Myanmar
• Dependence of China on Malaysia
• Trade profile of China
• Trade profile of South Korea
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

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.