Oxygen: Movement

Why oxygen almost never crosses a border

What this tab covers How it moves between countries: share of output traded, physical form and transport, the largest exporters and importers, main routes, India's trade, and handling rules in transit.

Trade in 2024 UN Comtrade, HS 280440

World exports $235.7 m 101 reporting exporters · about 619k t Largest exporter France 29% of world exports Largest importer Netherlands 17.1% of world imports India imports $770k
exports $838k #52 importer · #37 exporter

Where it is exported from and imported to, 2024

Chart: World map of the largest trade flows

Exporter (size = share of world exports) Importer (share of world imports) Shipping chokepoint UN Comtrade 2024, HS 280440: shares of reported world exports and imports by value. Country-to-country route lines are not available for this commodity yet. Hover a circle for values.

HS 280440: largest exporters

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
France	29%	$68.4 m	–
Belgium	9%	$21.3 m	120k
Germany	5.5%	$12.9 m	62k
United States	4.2%	$10.00 m	43k
Austria	3.8%	$9.00 m	34k
Czechia	3.8%	$8.93 m	–
Netherlands	3.4%	$7.96 m	18k
Italy	2.8%	$6.49 m	16k

HS 280440: largest importers

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
Netherlands	17.1%	$42.5 m	355k
Germany	11.1%	$27.6 m	191k
Luxembourg	6.2%	$15.5 m	205k
France	5.8%	$14.5 m	–
Jordan	4.1%	$10.3 m	38k
Slovakia	4%	$9.85 m	53k
Greece	3%	$7.39 m	38k
United Kingdom	2.5%	$6.20 m	11k

UN Comtrade 2024, reported by each country (exports by exporters, imports by importers), all partners. Some countries (for example Russia and Iran) do not report, so their shares are missing. HS codes can be broader than the tile: check the code before reading a share as the whole market.

How it moves

Measure	Figure
Share traded	negligible share of output crosses borders (indicative)
How it moves	Pipeline gas over short distances, liquid oxygen in cryogenic road tankers and ISO containers, cylinders. Distribution cost limits liquid deliveries to a few hundred kilometres (indicative), so oxygen is made close to users.
Routes and chokepoints	Mostly domestic. In crises oxygen moved by rail (India's Oxygen Express) and air (1,630 domestic and 229 international Indian Air Force sorties in 2021).
India	India imported 1,385 t of liquid medical oxygen from the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore in 2021; otherwise trade is negligible (Government of India, 2021).
Handling in transit	UN1072 (compressed, class 2.2 with oxidiser subsidiary 5.1); UN1073 (refrigerated liquid). Strong oxidiser; oil and grease contact can ignite.