Paperboard exports and pulp imports are strongly linked across countries
Comparing Pulp for paper — Import quantity with Other paper and paperboard — Export value across 166 countries, 2023–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.83
- Holding size constant
- +0.69
- Countries compared
- 166
- Period
- 2023–2024
What might link these
This likely reflects global paper/pulp supply chains, where countries exporting paperboard may import pulp as raw material. A careful reader should note that trade policies, regional production hubs, or industry size could inflate the correlation.
Why this is not proof of anything
This is a correlation across countries, not an experiment. It cannot show that either indicator causes the other, and both may simply follow a third thing. Correlation does not imply causation, and unmeasured factors like industrial capacity may drive both variables.
The second figure above repeats the measurement with national population and income held constant. It is the more conservative number: a relationship that largely disappears there was mostly telling you that larger, richer countries have more of most things.
How this was measured
Both indicators were ranked across every country reporting each, and the two rankings compared — ranks rather than raw values, because a handful of very large countries can otherwise manufacture a relationship on their own. The calculation is arithmetic over figures already published on this site; the commentary above is drafted from the two indicator names and the resulting coefficients.