T13 · Trade opportunity evidence
A country-to-country view of reported nickel ores and concentrates trade, combining buyer demand, exporter position, market structure, access conditions, and observed lane history.
Explore this product3-year buyer projection
$250.1MCalculated from reported demandExporter growth
-43.1%Full available historySuppliers in market
10Latest reported countObserved history
13 yearsLast year: 2022Reported observations
Core values for United States (USA) → South Africa (ZAF) in HS 260400.
Buyer market
Exporter position
Market structure
Detailed evidence
Reported values, calculated indicators, and country-pair context for this route.
| Measure | Value | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer imports | $169.9M | South Africa (ZAF)'s latest reported imports |
| Exporter exports | $0.1 | United States (USA)'s exports to South Africa (ZAF) |
| Exporter market share | 0% | Exporter share of the reported buyer market |
| Buyer five-year CAGR | +13.8% | Annualized change in buyer imports |
| Exporter full-history CAGR | -43.1% | Annualized change in exporter exports |
| Three-year buyer projection | $250.1M | Calculated projection from reported demand |
| Five-year buyer projection | $323.6M | Calculated projection from reported demand |
| Average buyer imports | $278.4M | Average reported importer value |
| Peak buyer imports | $1.0B | Highest reported importer value |
| Average exporter exports | $241.1K | Average reported lane exports |
| Peak exporter exports | $1.2M | Highest reported lane exports |
| Share change | -0 pp | Latest one-year change in exporter share |
| Reported suppliers | 10 | Supplier countries observed in the latest period |
| Buyer GDP | $419.9B | Latest buyer-country GDP estimate |
| Buyer GDP per person | $7.0K | Latest buyer-country GDP per person |
| Buyer population | 60,042 thousand | Latest buyer-country population estimate |
| Buyer investment rate | 19.8% | Reported buyer-country investment rate |
| Buyer secondary education | 86.3% | Reported secondary education coverage |
| Distance | 12,582 km | Approximate country-pair distance |
| Business entry time | 40 days | Reported days to start a business |
| Shared legal system | Yes | Country-pair institutional relationship |
| Reported FTA | No | Reported trade-agreement indicator |
| WTO member | Yes | Buyer-country WTO membership indicator |
| Lane volatility | 1.6 | Variation indicator across observed lane values |
| Maximum drawdown | 100% | Largest observed decline from a prior peak |
| Observed history | 13 years | Coverage through 2022 |
Research reading
South Africa (ZAF) reported $169.9M of nickel ores and concentrates imports in 2022. United States (USA) accounted for 0% of the observed market and reported $0.1 in exports on this lane.
The latest annual values eased slightly, while the longer available history shows +13.8% buyer growth and -43.1% exporter growth. The page separates reported values from projections and indicators.
Product classification
HS 260400 covers Nickel ores and concentrates. This page studies the six-digit Harmonized System classification rather than a company, brand, retail category, or individual shipment.
The classification sits in HS chapter 26 and heading 2604. The recorded trade type is one-way trade, with a low price range classification in the available product reference data.
How to interpret this page
This HS 260400 trade opportunity page brings together the buyer market in South Africa (ZAF), the exporter position of United States (USA), and the observed conditions of their trade lane. A large buyer market does not by itself show that every exporter has equal access, and a positive growth rate does not remove the need to examine volatility and historical coverage.
Use the reported imports and exports to understand scale, market share to understand position, projections to understand the calculated forward view, and lane history to understand how much evidence supports the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
This page covers HS 260400, the six-digit product classification shown in the trade records.
The page reports the latest buyer imports, historical averages, peaks, growth, and calculated projections for nickel ores and concentrates.
Exporter performance is shown through lane exports, market share, share change, growth, and the number of reported suppliers.
Review market scale, competition, access indicators, volatility, drawdown, and the available history together rather than relying on one signal.
Definitions and coverage
Trade values describe reported merchandise trade for the stated HS6 classification. They are not company-level sales or shipment records.
Growth, projections, concentration, volatility, and share-gap figures are calculated from the reported observations and should be interpreted with their coverage period.
This sample covers 13 observed years through 2022. Missing values are shown as not reported rather than estimated.
Explore the classification
Use the trade data and methodology pages to study other exporters, importers, and HS6 products.