How dependent is Singapore 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 29.6% of what the world exports of cargo and cruise ships; next come China (31%), Japan (10.9%) and India (3.1%). The rest of the world exported 16.9 times what Singapore buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 24.4% of what the world exports of nonmetal halides; next come China (18.2%), Japan (15.8%) and United States (12.8%). The rest of the world exported 14.4 times what Singapore buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 0.17% of what the world exports of zinc ore; next come Peru (15.8%), Australia (11.9%) and United States (11.5%). The rest of the world exported 804.6 times what Singapore buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 2.9% of what the world exports of other organic compounds; next come India (39.6%), China (11.5%) and United States (7.3%). The rest of the world exported 73.2 times what Singapore buys from South Korea.
• South Korea sells 1.5% of what the world exports of reclaimed rubber in primary forms or sheets; next come India (18.8%), Canada (18.7%) and China (13.3%). The rest of the world exported 292 times what Singapore buys from South Korea.

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

Singapore is South Korea’s 6th-largest customer, with 3.9% of its exports.

• Trade between Singapore and South Korea
• Who does Singapore rely on?
• Who does South Korea rely on?
• Dependence of Singapore on China
• Dependence of Singapore on the United States
• Dependence of Singapore on Malaysia
• Dependence of Singapore on Switzerland
• Dependence of Singapore on Saudi Arabia
• Dependence of Singapore on France
• Dependence of Singapore on Indonesia
• Dependence of Singapore on Thailand
• Dependence of Singapore on India
• Dependence of Singapore on Brazil
• Dependence of Singapore on Vietnam
• Trade profile of Singapore
• 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.