# Uranium: Movement

Why trade data miss the biggest producer

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/movement/

What this tab covers How it flows between countries: the largest bilateral trade routes drawn on a world map, 2024 UN Comtrade export and import values with the top exporters and importers by share, plus shipping routes, chokepoints and trade restrictions.

Recorded trade captures little of the real flow. Uranium ores and concentrates (HS 261210) showed only $1.09 billion of exports in 2023: Namibia 71%, Niger 19% and Canada 10%. Kazakhstan, the biggest producer, is missing, probably because yellowcake is often recorded as uranium compounds (HS 2844) or not reported. Imports were just $0.33 billion, 84% to the US and 16% to India. Kazakh uranium moves by rail across Russia to St Petersburg or by the Trans-Caspian route through Azerbaijan and Georgia. Niger's 2023 coup disrupted its French-run mines, and in 2024 the US banned imports of Russian enriched uranium.

#### Main trade routes, 2023

Chart: World map of the largest trade flows
 Exporter (size = share of world exports) Importer (share of world imports) Largest bilateral flows (width = value) Shipping chokepoint UN Comtrade 2023, reported exports by the top four exporters of each traded form to their partners (US$). Bubbles: shares of reported world exports and imports for the main traded form. Hover a line or circle for values.

#### Uranium ores · HS 261210
 World exports 2023 $1.09 bn sum of 9 reporting countries World imports 2023 $334.2 m sum of 15 reporting countries Top exporters, share of value Namibia 71.4% Niger 18.8% Canada 9.8% Japan 0% Italy 0% United Kingdom 0% Top importers, share of value United States 84% India 16% France 0% Spain 0% Netherlands 0% China 0% UN Comtrade, reporter declarations to the world, US$. Exports and imports are reported separately, so totals differ. Re-exporting hubs (Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, UAE) can appear large.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/index.md)
- [Energy overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/energy/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/correlation/index.md)
- [How energy resides](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/resides/index.md)
- [Abundance](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/abundance/index.md)
- [Fluctuation in time](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/time/index.md)
- [Across the Earth](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/geography/index.md)
- [Impact on nature](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/nature/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/overview/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/trading/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/uranium/links/index.md)