How dependent is South Korea on Japan?

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%.

• Japan sells 8.8% of what the world exports of plastic sheets and film; next come China (16%), Germany (10.2%) and United States (8.5%). The rest of the world exported 56.6 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 5.9% of what the world exports of ferrous scrap; next come United States (13.9%), Germany (9.9%) and United Kingdom (7.6%). The rest of the world exported 52.9 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 5.4% of what the world exports of semi-finished steel; next come Russia (19.8%), Brazil (11.9%) and China (10.7%). The rest of the world exported 53.2 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 3.6% of what the world exports of coal tar oils; next come United States (10.3%), Netherlands (8.4%) and India (8.4%). The rest of the world exported 62.4 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 58.5% of what the world exports of photographic chemicals; next come United States (8.2%), Taiwan (5.5%) and China (3.7%). The rest of the world exported 5.5 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 8.2% of what the world exports of synthetic paints and varnishes; next come Germany (16%), United States (10.1%) and Italy (7.8%). The rest of the world exported 44.6 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 14.4% of what the world exports of drawn and blown sheet glass; next come Hong Kong (28.2%), China (14.6%) and Taiwan (9.4%). The rest of the world exported 9.3 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 17.9% of what the world exports of developed photographic plates and film; next come United States (45.4%), Taiwan (13%) and Germany (8%). The rest of the world exported 12.9 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 13.6% of what the world exports of polishes and scouring creams; next come United States (22.1%), Germany (8.5%) and Taiwan (8.1%). The rest of the world exported 18.7 times what South Korea buys from Japan.
• Japan sells 1.4% of what the world exports of harvesters and farm machinery; next come Germany (16.9%), China (15.9%) and United States (13.8%). The rest of the world exported 254.9 times what South Korea buys from Japan.

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

South Korea is Japan’s 3rd-largest customer, with 6.2% of its exports.

• Trade between South Korea and Japan
• Who does South Korea rely on?
• Who does Japan rely on?
• Dependence of South Korea on China
• Dependence of South Korea on the United States
• Dependence of South Korea on Australia
• Dependence of South Korea on Vietnam
• Dependence of South Korea on Brazil
• Dependence of South Korea on Switzerland
• Dependence of South Korea on Mexico
• Trade profile of South Korea
• Trade profile of Japan
• 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.