What does Japan produce and export?
Japan ranks in the top ten producers of 9 commodities: bismuth (#3, 3.1% of world output in 2025), gallium (#3, 0.3% of world output in 2025), indium (#3, 5.9% of world output in 2025), tellurium (#3, 6.1% of world output in 2025), steel (#4, 4.3% of world output in 2025), uranium (#6, 3.3% of world output in 2025) and more. It is a top-ten exporter of steel (#2, 14% of world export value in 2024), yams (#4, 8.2% of world export value in 2024), uranium (#5, <0.1% of world export value in 2024), bismuth (#6, 3.4% of world export value in 2024), cobalt (#6, 2.2% of world export value in 2024) and more.
Japanese industry was rebuilt after 1945 on a simple constraint: the country has essentially no iron ore, no coking coal, no oil and very little copper left in the ground. The response was to put the processing at the water's edge. Integrated steel mills at Kimitsu, Kashima and Fukuyama were built on reclaimed coastal land with their own deepwater berths, so ore and coal are unloaded at one end of the plant and steel is loaded out at the other, eliminating inland freight altogether. Japan bought 5.3% of world iron ore import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). Its general trading houses went further and took equity stakes in Australian and Brazilian mines from the 1960s, financing the Pilbara's development in exchange for supply, and the annual price negotiated between Japanese mills and the miners set the world benchmark until index pricing replaced it in 2010.
Smelting works the same way. Copper smelters on the Inland Sea buy concentrate from Chile, Peru and Indonesia and sell refined cathode, which is why Japan took 13% of world copper import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI) from mines it does not own the ore of, and why it held 3.4% of world gold export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI) without mining gold in quantity: the metal comes out of copper concentrate as a byproduct of refining. Aluminum went the other way. Japan smelted a great deal of it until the oil shocks of the 1970s made electricity too expensive, and the industry was closed rather than subsidized; the metal is imported.
Energy is the largest exposure. Japan took the first cargo of liquefied gas into Asia in 1969 and effectively created the market, signing twenty-year contracts indexed to a basket of crude prices and accepting destination clauses that forbade resale, terms that funded liquefaction plants in Alaska, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and Australia. Demand rose sharply after the nuclear fleet was shut down following the 2011 earthquake. Japan bought 9.9% of world natural gas import value and 5.5% of world crude oil import value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
What does Japan produce?
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world | Production | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bismuth | 3 | 3.1% | 500 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Gallium | 3 | 0.3% | 3 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Indium | 3 | 5.9% | 65 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Tellurium | 3 | 6.1% | 61 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Steel | 4 | 4.3% | 81 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Uranium | 6 | 3.3% | 94.1 terawatt-hours | 2025 | Energy Institute |
| Eggs | 8 | 2.8% | 2.5 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Plywood | 8 | 2.2% | 2.5 million m3 | 2024 | faostat_fo |
| Chicken | 10 | 1.9% | 2.5 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
What does Japan export?
| Rank | Commodity | Export value (US$) | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gold | $19.7 billion | 3.4% |
| 2 | Steel | $9.5 billion | 14% |
| 3 | Silver | $1.5 billion | 4.4% |
| 4 | Platinum | $511.3 million | 3.5% |
| 5 | Tea | $256.3 million | 3.4% |
| 6 | Rhodium | $157.9 million | 2.1% |
| 7 | Cobalt | $102.6 million | 2.2% |
| 8 | Yams | $20.6 million | 8.2% |
| 9 | Rare earths | $15.8 million | 1.4% |
| 10 | Vanadium | $9.5 million | 1.4% |
| Rest of world | $0 | 56% |
Japan's own tracked-export mix
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world exports | Export value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steel | 2 | 14% | $9.5 billion | 2024 |
| Yams | 4 | 8.2% | $20.6 million | 2024 |
| Uranium | 5 | <0.1% | $138,216 | 2024 |
| Bismuth | 6 | 3.4% | $1.7 million | 2024 |
| Cobalt | 6 | 2.2% | $102.6 million | 2024 |
| Tea | 6 | 3.4% | $256.3 million | 2024 |
| Gold | 8 | 3.4% | $19.7 billion | 2024 |
| Rare earths | 8 | 1.4% | $15.8 million | 2024 |
| Rhodium | 8 | 2.1% | $157.9 million | 2024 |
| Silver | 8 | 4.4% | $1.5 billion | 2024 |
| Vanadium | 9 | 1.4% | $9.5 million | 2024 |
| Platinum | 10 | 3.5% | $511.3 million | 2024 |
Top-ten importer of
- Iridium: #1, 33% of world imports, $750.7 million (2024)
- Pork: #1, 11% of world imports, $4.2 billion (2024)
- Rare earths: #1, 25% of world imports, $279.6 million (2024)
- Copper: #2, 13% of world imports, $13.5 billion (2024)
- Corn: #2, 7.5% of world imports, $3.6 billion (2024)
- Graphite: #2, 11% of world imports, $60.3 million (2024)
- Iron ore: #2, 5.3% of world imports, $8.5 billion (2024)
- Natural gas: #2, 9.9% of world imports, $47.1 billion (2024)
- Plywood: #2, 6.7% of world imports, $1.1 billion (2024)
- Rhodium: #2, 13% of world imports, $983.3 million (2024)
- Coal: #3, 15% of world imports, $26.7 billion (2024)
- Cobalt: #3, 3.1% of world imports, $147.8 million (2024)
- Honey: #3, 5.8% of world imports, $133.7 million (2024)
- Lithium: #3, 5.6% of world imports, $215.1 million (2024)
- Shrimp: #3, 5.8% of world imports, $1.8 billion (2024)
- Silicon: #3, 9.4% of world imports, $379.6 million (2024)
- Sorghum: #3, 1.4% of world imports, $39.3 million (2024)
- Tin: #3, 9.2% of world imports, $592.6 million (2024)
- Titanium: #3, 10% of world imports, $326.4 million (2024)
- Aluminum: #4, 6.4% of world imports, $5 billion (2024)
- Bananas: #4, 6% of world imports, $930.5 million (2024)
- Beef: #4, 4.1% of world imports, $1.5 billion (2024)
- Canola: #4, 8.1% of world imports, $1.1 billion (2024)
- Magnesium: #4, 6% of world imports, $55.4 million (2024)
- Manganese: #4, 3.2% of world imports, $201.5 million (2024)
- Natural rubber: #4, 7.2% of world imports, $1.2 billion (2024)
- Palladium: #4, 10% of world imports, $1.4 billion (2024)
- Platinum: #4, 10% of world imports, $1.5 billion (2024)
- Sawnwood: #4, 4% of world imports, $1.5 billion (2024)
- Sesame seed: #4, 5.3% of world imports, $418.5 million (2024)
- Vanadium: #4, 7.2% of world imports, $48.5 million (2024)
- Coffee: #5, 4.8% of world imports, $1.6 billion (2024)
- Crude oil: #5, 5.5% of world imports, $73.1 billion (2024)
- Ginger: #5, 5.9% of world imports, $76.3 million (2024)
- Molybdenum: #5, 9.3% of world imports, $760.4 million (2024)
- Nickel: #5, 6.3% of world imports, $905.9 million (2024)
- Soybeans: #5, 2.2% of world imports, $1.8 billion (2024)
- Bismuth: #6, 5.5% of world imports, $2.9 million (2024)
- Fishmeal: #6, 2.9% of world imports, $276.6 million (2024)
- Logs: #6, 3.4% of world imports, $436.1 million (2024)
- Niobium: #6, 5.1% of world imports, $174.9 million (2024)
- Silk: #6, 3.3% of world imports, $12.1 million (2024)
- Silver: #6, 4.2% of world imports, $1.4 billion (2024)
- Yams: #6, 3.1% of world imports, $7.8 million (2024)
- Barley: #7, 3.6% of world imports, $327.6 million (2024)
- Chicken: #7, 3.9% of world imports, $1.4 billion (2024)
- Pineapples: #7, 4.6% of world imports, $129.2 million (2024)
- Zirconium: #7, 3% of world imports, $50.7 million (2024)
- Beryllium: #8, 0.2% of world imports, $51,993 (2024)
- Cassava: #8, 2.7% of world imports, $92.6 million (2024)
- Oats: #8, 2.1% of world imports, $23.1 million (2024)
- Vanilla: #8, 2% of world imports, $9.1 million (2024)
- Almonds: #9, 3.9% of world imports, $202.8 million (2024)
- Cheese: #9, 2.8% of world imports, $1.3 billion (2024)
- Olive oil: #9, 2.5% of world imports, $413.4 million (2024)
- Sisal: #10, 2.7% of world imports, $18.3 million (2024)
Sources: FAOSTAT (crops and livestock), USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (minerals), Energy Institute Statistical Review (energy) for production; CEPII BACI for trade. Ranks count only the commodities on this site.
Japan commodity by commodity
Japan in the pattern reports
Who supplies Japan
- Single-supplier markets. Japan buys half or more of its imports from one country in 24 of 43 import markets of $250 million or more, among them coal from Australia (65%, $26.7 billion); iron ore from Australia (63%, $8.5 billion); corn from United States (83%, $3.6 billion); soybeans from United States (65%, $1.8 billion); platinum from South Africa (79%, $1.5 billion); silver from South Korea (65%, $1.4 billion). Import dependency.
- A new largest supplier. crude oil: Saudi Arabia (40% in 2022) to United Arab Emirates (43% in 2024). Supplier shifts.
Japan and critical minerals
One origin supplied more than 65% of its 2024 imports by value on 12 critical-mineral customs lines (the EU's benchmark for strategic raw materials):
Downloads and citation
This country's rankings as JSON · PDF summary. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "What does Japan produce and export?", https://commodityorigins.com/countries/JPN/ (CC BY 4.0).
Data updated 22 October 2026.