The biggest producer is often not the biggest exporter

For 48 of the 90 commodities with production data, the country that produces the most is not the country that exports the most by value. For 13 of them the biggest producer is not even among the top 15 exporters of the traded form.

There are four ordinary reasons. Some producers use what they make at home. Some sell a different form (a country can lead in mined ore and another in refined metal). Some exporters buy raw material and process it before selling on, so their exports contain other countries' output. And exports are ranked by value while production is ranked by weight, so a country selling high-value grades can lead one list and not the other. The explainer on producing, exporting and processing walks through an example.

Commodities where the largest producer and the largest exporter differ
Commodity	Largest producer	Share of output	Largest exporter	Share of exports	Producer's export rank	Traded form compared
Yams	Nigeria	71%	Ghana	25%	outside top 15	yams (HS 071430)
Nickel	Indonesia	67%	Norway	15%	6	unwrought nickel (HS 7502)
Chickpeas	India	65%	Australia	24%	4	chickpeas (HS 071320)
Aluminum	China	61%	Canada	10%	outside top 15	unwrought aluminum (HS 7601)
Palm kernel oil	Indonesia	59%	Malaysia	29%	5	crude palm kernel oil (HS 151321)
Silk	India	56%	China	48%	9	silk (HS 5002)
Coal	China	52%	Australia	34%	11	coal (HS 2701)
Tea	China	50%	Kenya	18%	3	tea (HS 0902)
Ginger	India	48%	China	56%	5	ginger (HS 091011)
Pork	China	46%	United States	18%	outside top 15	pork (HS 0203)
Mangoes	India	45%	Thailand	18%	7	mangoes (HS 080450)
Phosphate rock	China	44%	Morocco	29%	15	phosphate rock (HS 2510)
Lead	China	42%	India	10%	outside top 15	unwrought lead (HS 7801)
Sisal	Brazil	40%	India	39%	4	sisal (HS 5305)
Coconut oil	Philippines	39%	Indonesia	34%	2	coconut and palm kernel oil (HS 1513)
Cinnamon	China	38%	Vietnam	28%	4	cinnamon (HS 0906)
Tobacco	China	37%	Brazil	20%	7	unmanufactured tobacco (HS 2401)
Molybdenum	China	37%	Chile	24%	6	molybdenum ore (HS 2613)
Eggs	China	35%	Netherlands	17%	6	eggs (HS 0407)
Peanuts	China	34%	Argentina	20%	4	raw groundnuts (HS 1202)
Tomatoes	China	33%	Mexico	29%	10	tomatoes (HS 0702)
Lithium	Australia	32%	Chile	73%	outside top 15	lithium carbonate (HS 283691)
Zinc	China	32%	Spain	9.8%	outside top 15	unwrought zinc (HS 7901)
Sunflower oil	Russia	31%	Ukraine	28%	2	sunflower and safflower oil (HS 1512)
Shrimp	China	31%	Ecuador	20%	9	crustaceans (HS 0306)
Pepper	Vietnam	28%	India	24%	2	pepper (HS 0904)
Cheese	United States	28%	Germany	15%	5	cheese (HS 0406)
Bananas	India	27%	Ecuador	27%	9	bananas and plantains (HS 0803)
Plantains	Uganda	27%	Ecuador	23%	outside top 15	plantains (HS 080310)
Tin	China	24%	Indonesia	26%	5	unwrought tin (HS 8001)
Potatoes	China	24%	France	21%	8	potatoes (HS 0701)
Silver	Mexico	24%	China	16%	3	silver (HS 7106)
Honey	China	24%	New Zealand	11%	2	honey (HS 0409)
Oranges	Brazil	23%	Spain	22%	outside top 15	fresh oranges (HS 080510)
Lamb	China	23%	Australia	42%	outside top 15	sheep and goat meat (HS 0204)
Cotton	China	23%	Brazil	30%	outside top 15	raw cotton lint (HS 5201)
Grapes	China	22%	Peru	14%	3	grapes (HS 0806)
Wool	China	21%	Australia	62%	7	greasy and scoured wool (HS 5101)
Crude oil	United States	21%	Saudi Arabia	14%	3	crude oil (HS 2709)
Cassava	Nigeria	18%	Cambodia	20%	outside top 15	cassava (HS 0714)
Beef	United States	18%	Brazil	27%	3	frozen beef (HS 0202)
Wheat	China	18%	Russia	16%	outside top 15	wheat grain (HS 1001)
Milk	India	17%	New Zealand	28%	outside top 15	milk powders (HS 0402)
Sawnwood	United States	17%	Canada	17%	4	sawnwood (HS 4407)
Logs	United States	16%	New Zealand	14%	2	wood in the rough (HS 4403)
Chicken	United States	16%	Brazil	26%	2	poultry meat (HS 0207)
Barley	Russia	12%	Australia	19%	3	barley (HS 1003)
Gold	China	12%	Switzerland	18%	11	gold (HS 7108)

Production: FAOSTAT, USGS, Energy Institute, FAO FishStat, latest year. Exports: CEPII BACI (built from UN Comtrade), export value in US dollars for the primary HS line shown, latest year. The two are different measures, so read a mismatch as a prompt to look at the commodity page, not as a data error.

More patterns

Concentration: How much of each commodity comes from one country?
Prices in real terms: Which prices are records once inflation is removed?
Growth and decline: Whose output is rising or falling fastest?
Linked prices and seasons: Which prices move together, and which have a season?
Reserves and mining: Where are the deposits, and who digs them up?
Supply concentration: Which commodities depend on the fewest suppliers?
Land or yield?: Did output grow because farmers planted more or farmed better?
Supply shocks and prices: When world output falls, do prices rise?
Category price indices: How have energy, metals and food prices moved since 1960?
Drawdowns and volatility: How far do prices fall, and do they recover?
Stocks and prices: Are prices lower when the world holds more stock?
Which prices follow oil?: How closely does each commodity track crude oil?
How reliable is the data?: How much of world output rests on estimates?
Net exporters and importers: Who is a net seller and who a net buyer?
Country leaders: Which countries lead across the most commodities?
Export dependency: Which countries rely on one commodity?
Concentration over time: Has production spread out or narrowed?
Import dependency: Which countries buy most of a commodity from one supplier?
Supplier shifts: Who gained and lost importers' business?
Trade price against benchmark: Does traded product sell above or below the benchmark price?
Prices in other currencies: How much of a price move is the dollar?
Do prices lead each other?: Does one commodity price move before another?
Volatility over time: Are prices more volatile now than they used to be?
Seasonality: Which prices have a calendar-month pattern?
Price ratios: What does one commodity buy of another, and is that high or low?
El Niño and prices: Do El Niño and La Niña years move commodity prices?
Who consumes it: Which countries consume each commodity, and how much per person?
Self-sufficiency: Which large markets depend on imports, and which produce far more than they use?
Trade flows: Who sells each commodity to whom?

Every figure is computed from the same tables as the commodity pages. The full set is in patterns.json, and single facts from it appear each day on the facts page.