How to read this. Each row is where South Korea imports a material from — the
immediate customs origin, sorted by single-supplier concentration. ⛏ marks a top source that is also
the material's lead miner (a genuine origin); without it, the supplier is a refiner or hub and the real
mine sits further upstream (open the material's profile to see where).
Import-vulnerability index (13/100). A value-weighted average, across South Korea’s
imports, of each material’s supply-risk index × how concentrated South Korea’s
own sourcing of it is. High when it buys intrinsically risky materials from a single supplier; lower when
it diversifies. The risk column below is the material’s own score — multiply it by the country’s
share to see where South Korea is most exposed.
China’s share of South Korea’s critical-material imports, 2002–2024: 28% ↓ 6%
| Material | Top source | share | import HHI | risk | China | # sources | imports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnesium, unwrought | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 100% | 1.00 | 60 | 100% | 6 | $58M |
| Tungsten, unwrought | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 97% | 0.94 | 46 | 97% | 6 | $7M |
| Baryte | 🇨🇳 China | 95% | 0.91 | 15 | 95% | 6 | $11M |
| Natural graphite | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 95% | 0.90 | 51 | 95% | 8 | $1M |
| Gallium | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 93% | 0.86 | 57 | 93% | 9 | $100M |
| Germanium | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 93% | 0.86 | 44 | 93% | 9 | $100M |
| Hafnium, unwrought | 🇨🇳 China | 93% | 0.86 | 32 | 93% | 9 | $100M |
| Ferro-niobium | 🇧🇷 Brazil ⛏ | 92% | 0.86 | 64 | 1% | 5 | $215M |
| Fluorspar, >97% CaF2 | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 92% | 0.85 | 51 | 92% | 6 | $809k |
| Phosphorus | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 91% | 0.84 | 57 | 9% | 7 | $70M |
| Arsenic | 🇨🇳 China | 90% | 0.82 | 31 | 90% | 6 | $506k |
| Rare-earth permanent magnets | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 88% | 0.78 | 52 | 88% | 11 | $306M |
| Silicon, < 99.99% | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 84% | 0.72 | 47 | 84% | 10 | $172M |
| Natural borates | 🇹🇷 Turkey ⛏ | 83% | 0.72 | 42 | 16% | 8 | $4M |
| Beryllium, unwrought | 🇺🇸 United States ⛏ | 81% | 0.70 | 74 | 19% | 2 | $15k |
| Lithium carbonate | 🇨🇱 Chile | 75% | 0.61 | 64 | 2% | 9 | $425M |
| Ferro-vanadium | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 73% | 0.56 | 45 | 73% | 7 | $47M |
| Cobalt oxides & hydroxides | 🇨🇳 China | 69% | 0.51 | 43 | 69% | 11 | $82M |
| Aluminium ores / bauxite | 🇦🇺 Australia ⛏ | 69% | 0.57 | 45 | 30% | 7 | $36M |
| Tantalum, unwrought | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 67% | 0.55 | 33 | 1% | 7 | $5M |
| Strontium carbonate | 🇩🇪 Germany | 60% | 0.40 | 57 | 14% | 9 | $19M |
| Manganese ore | 🇿🇦 South Africa ⛏ | 54% | 0.39 | 46 | 1% | 11 | $88M |
| Helium | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 49% | 0.37 | 22 | 4% | 11 | $312M |
| Platinum, unwrought | 🇿🇦 South Africa ⛏ | 48% | 0.36 | 39 | 0% | 6 | $360M |
| Feldspar | 🇨🇳 China | 48% | 0.39 | 25 | 48% | 8 | $2M |
| Refined copper cathodes | 🇨🇱 Chile ⛏ | 45% | 0.36 | 23 | 4% | 7 | $2.4B |
| Antimony, unwrought | 🇨🇳 China ⛏ | 44% | 0.35 | 35 | 44% | 6 | $33M |
| Titanium, unwrought | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 43% | 0.29 | 43 | 18% | 10 | $83M |
| Palladium, unwrought | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 37% | 0.22 | 25 | 0% | 7 | $454M |
| Coking coal | 🇦🇺 Australia ⛏ | 36% | 0.20 | 24 | 0% | 18 | $13.6B |
| Phosphate rock | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 35% | 0.27 | 31 | 13% | 8 | $97M |
| Nickel, unwrought | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | 26% | 0.18 | 32 | 12% | 12 | $521M |
Computed from out/flows_2024.json + out/data.json by build_profiles.py. Customs records the immediate shipper, not the mine — see methodology.