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Slow, coarse trade data
Trade statistics are the only global view of who ships what to whom. They have two weaknesses. They are slow: the latest complete year is always behind. And they are coarse: the six-digit product code, the finest level that is the same worldwide, often mixes grades or even different materials.
The chart shows, for each material, how much of the trade value sits under codes that isolate the material cleanly, and how much under codes that mix grades or forms. Codes that also cover other materials are left out of all totals; they are listed underneath.
For gallium and germanium no six-digit code isolates the material at all, so the atlas shows no trade flows for them.
How old is the trade data?
The latest complete trade year in the atlas is 2024. The data was last retrieved in November 2026. Reconciled customs data is published roughly a year after the year ends.
Trade value by how cleanly the product code isolates the material
| Material | Code isolates the material and stage Code mixes grades or forms | World trade value | Share under mixed-grade codes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithium | 6.5 bn USD2024 | 41.2% | ||
| Cobalt | 5.6 bn USD2024 | 97.4% | ||
| Nickel | 33.4 bn USD2024 | 57.8% | ||
| Copper | 213.4 bn USD2024 | 0% | ||
| Graphite | 2.9 bn USD2024 | 98.2% | ||
| Rare earths | 3.1 bn USD2024 | 93.6% | ||
| Gallium | No six-digit code isolates this material | – | – | |
| Germanium | No six-digit code isolates this material | – | – | |
| Tungsten | 1.6 bn USD2024 | 13.5% | ||
| Antimony | 2.2 bn USD2024 | 0% |
Codes left out because they also cover other materials
| HS code | Material | Official description | Why it blurs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 850760 | Lithium | Electric accumulators: lithium-ion, including separators, whether or not rectangular (including square) | Finished cells and packs. Value reflects the whole battery, not its lithium. |
| 283329 | Cobalt | Sulphates: n.e.c. in item no. 2833.2 | Cobalt sulphate, the battery-grade product, has no code of its own; this residual code holds many other sulphates. |
| 850511 | Rare earths | Magnets: permanent magnets and articles intended to become permanent magnets after magnetisation, of metal | All metal permanent magnets (NdFeB, SmCo, AlNiCo). Shown for reference only. |
| 811292 | Gallium | Gallium, germanium, indium, niobium (columbium) and vanadium: articles thereof, unwrought, including waste and scrap, powders | Gallium shares this code with germanium, indium, niobium and vanadium. HS6 trade data cannot isolate gallium or germanium. |
| 282560 | Germanium | Germanium oxides and zirconium dioxide | Germanium dioxide shares this code with zirconium dioxide, a far larger trade. |
Exporter-reported against importer-reported values
No data yet: Exporter-reported against importer-reported values
We have no sourced record for this. We never fill gaps with estimates.
Help add it
What would fix this
- National eight- or ten-digit codes separate grades that the six-digit code mixes. Adding them country by country is laborious but possible.
- Comparing what the exporter reports with what the importer reports shows where the data disagree. That needs the raw declarations (UN Comtrade), which the atlas does not ingest yet, so this view is empty for now.
- Faster sources, such as monthly national customs releases, would shorten the lag for the largest traders.