Stories
Editorial analyses built on the same published artifacts as the atlas.
All stories are currently in editorial review: the figures are final, the prose may still change.
china Draft
The Factory Floor Moved
In three decades of BACI trade data, China went from the world’s sixth-largest exporter to the unambiguous center of goods trade, lifting its share of world exports from 4.52% in 1995 to 15.73% in 2024.
China’s world export share: 4.52% (1995) → 15.73% (2024); #1 since 2005
data through 2024
ai Draft
The Hardware Behind AI Has Several Centers
AI compute hardware exports grew from $544 billion in 2000 to $1.55 trillion in 2024 — but chips and the machines that house them have different maps: integrated circuits lead from 'Other Asia, nes’ (24%), China (18%) and Korea (17%), while data-processing machines are China-centred (40%).
AI compute hardware exports: $544B (2000) → $1.55T (2024)
data through 2024
minerals Draft
The Small Markets That Became Strategic
Lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper and nickel ores, and rare earths: small trade markets that grew an order of magnitude and stayed concentrated in a few exporters.
Lithium exports $0.1B→$6.4B; graphite 50.1% China, cobalt 54.6% DRC (2024)
data through 2024
energy Draft
Who Depends On Gulf Energy Trade?
A disruption to Gulf oil and gas would not hit every economy equally. Trade data shows which importers lean hardest on the eight Gulf source countries — and where that exposure is, and is not, possible to measure.
Pakistan: 88.6% of 2024 oil/gas imports from Gulf-source countries
data through 2024
country Draft
The New Manufacturing Arc
China is the largest gainer in world export share since 1995 - but the next tier of gains, from Vietnam to Mexico to Poland, traces a broader reallocation of manufacturing across Asia, North America and Eastern Europe.
Vietnam’s export share: 0.11% (1995) → 1.88% (2023), +1.77pp
data through 2024
energy Draft
Europe’s Energy Map Was Already Changing
Before the 2022 shock, Russia supplied close to a fifth of the energy bought by seven major European importers. By 2024 that share had collapsed to under two percent — and the trade record shows where the replacement supply came from, while being explicit about what annual data and product codes cannot reveal.
European energy import sources realigned, 2018-2024
data through 2024
food Draft
The Food System’s Hidden Import Dependency
Agricultural exposure is not just about who exports grain. Fertilizer import dependence draws a different, less familiar map of food-system vulnerability — one where a handful of suppliers sit upstream of almost every harvest.
Fertilizer import dependency across major importers, 2024
data through 2024