What does each country produce and export?

What do the country rankings show?

Producing and selling are different kinds of leadership. Among the 110 commodities with a production ranking, China is the largest producer of 39, the United States of 12 and India of 10, and China is in the top three producers of 62 (latest year for each, from FAOSTAT, USGS or the Energy Institute). Among the 112 commodities with an export ranking, the leader is a different mix: China is the top exporter by value of 11 and Brazil of 9 (CEPII BACI, latest year).

Export top tens favor a different set of countries than production does. The United States is in the top ten exporters of 60 commodities, the Netherlands of 52 and Germany of 49, yet the Netherlands is the largest producer of none of the 110 ranked commodities and Germany of none. Trade records count goods each time they cross a border, so ports, processors and re-exporters rank high without growing or mining much; the producing, exporting and processing guide explains the difference. On the buying side, China is the largest importer by value of 38 commodities and the United States of 31 (CEPII BACI, latest year); the import dependency report shows which buyers lean on a single supplier.