plate 385 · 2025 data

Laos went from 2% to 17% of China's potash imports

Share of China's potash fertiliser imports by supplier, by value, as reported by China, 2019–2025.

Trade rewired
  1. 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
  2. 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
  3. 3. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
  4. 4. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
  5. 5. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
  6. 6. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
  7. 7. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
  8. 8. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
  9. 9. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
  10. 10. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
  11. 11. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
  12. 12. China now buys more from Brazil than from Germany
  13. 13. Kazakhstan now sells Russia more than Germany does
  14. 14. China fell to third among America's suppliers in 2025
  15. 15. America overtook China as Taiwan's biggest export market
  16. 16. Mongolia's coal exports hit a record 90 million tonnes
  17. 17. Viet Nam's ports now handle more containers than Japan's
  18. 18. Liberia overtook Panama as the biggest flag by ship capacity
  19. 19. Nickel made Indonesia the world's fifth-biggest iron and steel exporter
  20. 20. Mexico again hosts more US investment than China
  21. 21. Mexico replaced China as America's top computer supplier
  22. 22. France fell from first to third among Côte d'Ivoire's suppliers
  23. 23. Wigs are nearly half of what North Korea sells China
  24. 24. Viet Nam overtook China as Morocco's top smartphone supplier
  25. 25. China became the top electric car supplier in 21 countries
  26. 26. Indonesia became America's biggest solar panel supplier
  27. 27. 21 countries now buy more from China than from Russia
  28. 28. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
  29. 29. Morocco's container ports grew fastest of the world's top 40
  30. 30. China now supplies almost two-thirds of lithium-ion battery imports
  31. 31. 13 countries made India their biggest medicine supplier
  32. 32. China passed Denmark as top supplier of imported wind turbines
  33. 33. Thailand lost the top rice supplier spot in 18 countries
  34. 34. UAE-based shipowners tripled their fleet and entered the top ten
  35. 35. Viet Nam lost top coffee supplier status in 12 countries
  36. 36. India now imports more cotton than it exports
  37. 37. America's share of Ecuador's exports fell from 45% to 19%
  38. 38. Japan's share of Qatar's exports fell from 30% to 7%
  39. 39. Southeast Asia now imports most fries from China and India
  40. 40. China replaced America as Mexico's main electric car supplier
  41. 41. Laos went from 2% to 17% of China's potash imports
17.5%

Laos's share of China's potash imports in 2025, up from 2.1% in 2019; it rose every year since 2020 (13.4% in 2023, 16.0% in 2024).

$700M

What China paid Laos for potash in 2025, twelve times the $57 million of 2019. Canada's share fell from 36.8% to 17.3%.

54.6%

Share of China's potash imports from its two neighbours Russia (37.1%) and Laos in 2025, up from 25.2% in 2019.

Source: UN Comtrade, China's imports of potassium chloride (HS 310420) by partner, as reported by China, 2025
the numbers & method
Laos went from 2% to 17% of China's potash imports. Source: UN Comtrade, China's imports of potassium chloride (HS 310420) by partner, as reported by China, 2025.
Laos ($M)Russia ($M)Belarus ($M)Canada ($M)Others ($M)
201956.8617.3554.0981.8460.2
2022281.3888.0928.21,448.9694.7
2025700.01,486.2747.2691.4377.3

Claim types Fact

UN Comtrade, HS 310420 (potassium chloride, the main potash fertiliser), imports as reported by China (reporter 156), US$ (CIF), calendar years, read from the UN Comtrade API via the progrss vault (GUIDELINES §4.11; source un-comtrade passes value checks, 26 matches, 0 mismatches; editions by year: 2019 vb23f182b9f, 2022 v8bae5381f5, 2025 vc3ca5b1df4). US$ million, World / Laos / Russia / Belarus / Canada: 2019 2,670.0 / 56.8 / 617.3 / 554.0 / 981.8; 2022 4,241.1 / 281.3 / 888.0 / 928.2 / 1,448.9; 2025 4,002.1 / 700.0 / 1,486.2 / 747.2 / 691.4. Laos by year: 2015 94.4 (3.2%), 2020 29.1, 2021 100.2, 2023 630.1, 2024 603.3. 'Other' is the world total minus the four named suppliers (mostly Israel and Jordan; progrss calculation). Shares are of value and progrss calculations. Laos borders China; so does Russia. Laos's potash mine output is on plate 124 (USGS). Licence: UN Comtrade public data.

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