How dependent is North Korea on China?

and 182 more

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%.

• China sells 21.8% of what the world exports of prepared human hair; next come India (50.2%), Bangladesh (10.3%) and Myanmar (4.8%). The rest of the world exported 5.3 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 61.9% of what the world exports of synthetic filament fabric; next come Taiwan (4.8%), South Korea (4.5%) and India (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 105.5 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 1.2% of what the world exports of soybean oil; next come Argentina (44.4%), Brazil (10%) and Netherlands (3.9%). The rest of the world exported 135.9 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 30.8% of what the world exports of furniture; next come Vietnam (10.4%), Italy (7.3%) and Germany (7%). The rest of the world exported 1,342 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 50.6% of what the world exports of other knitted fabric; next come Taiwan (6.3%), Turkey (5.8%) and South Korea (5.5%). The rest of the world exported 298.5 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 46.5% of what the world exports of plastic floor and wall coverings; next come Vietnam (14.1%), South Korea (6.6%) and Belgium (4.8%). The rest of the world exported 157.2 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 17.3% of what the world exports of ceramic tiles; next come Italy (22.9%), Spain (18.6%) and India (13.4%). The rest of the world exported 370.8 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 22.8% of what the world exports of new tires; next come Thailand (8%), Japan (6%) and Germany (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 2,185.7 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 16% of what the world exports of plastic sheets and film; next come Germany (10.2%), Japan (8.8%) and United States (8.5%). The rest of the world exported 1,728.8 times what North Korea buys from China.
• China sells 2.3% of what the world exports of medicines in measured doses or retail packs; next come Germany (13.2%), Switzerland (9%) and Italy (8.6%). The rest of the world exported 19,525.3 times what North Korea buys from China.

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

North Korea is China’s 114th-largest customer, with 0.05% of its exports.

• Trade between North Korea and China
• Who does North Korea rely on?
• Who does China rely on?
• Trade profile of North Korea
• Trade profile of China
• 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.