How dependent is Vanuatu on China?

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 12.1% of what the world exports of fishing vessels; next come Turkey (21.3%), Spain (13.6%) and Norway (13.6%). The rest of the world exported 18.9 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 29.7% of what the world exports of steel structures; next come Germany (8.4%), Poland (4.7%) and Turkey (4.4%). The rest of the world exported 9,527.5 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 14.5% of what the world exports of centrifuges and filters; next come Germany (15.2%), United States (13.2%) and Mexico (6.1%). The rest of the world exported 18,305.1 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 28.2% of what the world exports of prefabricated buildings; next come United States (4.4%), Germany (3.6%) and Czechia (3.6%). The rest of the world exported 2,551.9 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 59.2% of what the world exports of lamps and light fittings; next come Germany (4.7%), Mexico (4%) and Italy (3.6%). The rest of the world exported 7,998.1 times what Vanuatu 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 28,288 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 17.5% of what the world exports of toilet paper and tissues; next come Germany (9.1%), Poland (6.3%) and United States (5.7%). The rest of the world exported 10,927.8 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 27.6% of what the world exports of coated flat steel; next come South Korea (10.3%), Germany (7.2%) and Belgium (4.8%). The rest of the world exported 18,568.6 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 60.9% of what the world exports of plastic tableware and household items; next come Germany (3%), United States (2.9%) and Turkey (2.6%). The rest of the world exported 4,685.3 times what Vanuatu buys from China.
• China sells 50.6% of what the world exports of rubber and plastic footwear; next come Vietnam (16.4%), Indonesia (6%) and Germany (3.8%). The rest of the world exported 9,850.3 times what Vanuatu buys from China.

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

Vanuatu is China’s 167th-largest customer, with 0.01% of its exports.

• Who does Vanuatu rely on?
• Who does China rely on?
• Trade profile of Vanuatu
• 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.