Global Trade Value by Type of Concentration, 2021

Trade Is Still Concentrated in Pockets

Research by McKinsey shows that, in 40% of trade cases, importing countries rely on three or fewer countries for the supply of a given resource or manufactured good. In these ‘concentrated trade’ cases, one quarter of the time is because there are limited suppliers, while the remaining 75% of the time importing countries prefer to do so from only 2 or 3 countries, despite there being many suppliers across the globe. As an example, 15 economies account for 90% of global wheat trade, but most countries buy from just two or three countries. This concentration is not because of a lack of suppliers, but due to a range of factors, including geography, consumer and business preferences, preferential trade arrangements and supplier structures and relationships.