World minerals trade: a comment

Abstract

This purely descriptive note discusses various aspects of world trade in minerals. It is not aimed at specialist mineral economists who may extract any detailed trade figures they require from the United Nations’ Comtrade database. Rather it is directed to all those who might use readily available aggregate data on minerals trade for broad analyses of the minerals industry. It starts from the most commonly quoted estimates of minerals trade before looking at some of the issues surrounding those measures and highlighting some of the pitfalls involved. It then examines both the product composition and geographical origins of minerals trade and how it has developed over the past half century. The concluding sections turn to a discussion of the merits and demerits of various measures of mineral dependence.