Tantalum trade structural dependencies are what we need: A perspective on the industrial chain

As an important rare metal, the demand of tantalum has been increasing in international trade. Understanding the evolution and characteristics of trade in the tantalum industry chain can help countries optimize their industrial structure and distribution. In this work, we applied complex networks at the global and local levels to analyze how tantalum industrial trade evolved from 2002 to 2020. Next, we used exponential random graph model (ERGM) to identify the factors of structural dependencies in tantalum trade networks. The results show that the country status in the trade network is constantly changing; however, China, the United States, and Germany remain at the center of the industrial chain. In addition, the transitivity of the network structure plays a fundamental role in the trade networks of the tantalum industry chain, which is its homogeneity. Meanwhile, the structural dependencies of the network of different products in the industrial chain are also heterogeneous. The tantalum ore and concentrates trade network (OCTN) is affected mainly by convergence and divergence, the transitivity of the network has the greatest impact on the unwrought tantalum trade network (UTTN), the tantalum electrical capacitors trade network (ECTN) is affected most by divergence, and the scrap trade network (WCTN) relies on more structural variables. •Analyze the complex network characteristics of the whole global tantalum industry chain from 2002 to 2020.•Identify the status changes of major trade countries of the tantalum industry chain.•Explore the impact of structural dependencies on trade networks.•Structural dependencies of industry chain networks are homogeneous and heterogeneous.