Sign inTwo ways to find something worth building: what people are reporting as problems, and what this country is paying foreigners for. Both are ranked; neither is combined into the other.
Country · 2019–2024 · 60,550 trade records
One dot is one manufactured product this country imports. Hover to see which; click for the pathway and what it might cost to start. Both axes are annual trade, on a log scale — each gridline is ten times the last — because the figures span three and a half orders of magnitude and a linear axis would stack all but the largest onto the origin. Computed Nov 10, 2026 · 00:00 UTC.
45 of 50 sit below the parity line — the country buys more of that product than it sells. That gap is the opportunity; the ones above it are already served by domestic makers. These are the top 50 manufactured products out of 212 scored.
| Product | HS code | Annual imports | Annual exports | Buys per unit sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical, surgical or dental instruments and appliances; n.e.c. in heading no. 9018 | 901890 | $1.1B | $459.8M | 2.3x |
| Instruments, appliances and machines; for measuring or checking n.e.c. in chapter 90 | 903180 | $1.1B | $184M | 6.2x |
| Regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus; automatic, other than hydraulic or pneumatic | 903289 | $745.6M | $254.4M | 2.9x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; catheters, cannulae and the like | 901839 | $357.7M | $482.4M | 0.7x |
| Instruments, appliances and machines; parts and accessories for those measuring or checking devices of heading no. 9031 | 903190 | $337M | $71.1M | 4.7x |
| Microtomes and parts and accessories thereof | 902790 | $388.2M | $50.8M | 7.6x |
| Apparatus based on use of x-rays and similar; parts and accessories (x-ray generators, tubes, high tension generators, control panels and desks, screens, examination or treatment tables, chairs and like | 902290 | $330.5M | $108.1M | 3.0x |
| Instruments and apparatus; using optical radiations (UV, visible, IR), (other than spectrometers, spectrophotometers and spectrographs) | 902750 | $307.5M | $81.1M | 3.7x |
| Apparatus based on the use of x-rays; including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, for medical, surgical or veterinary uses, not dental uses, excluding computed tomography apparatus | 902214 | $272.8M | $78.6M | 3.4x |
| Appliances; worn, carried or implanted in the body, to compensate for a defect or disability | 902190 | $267M | $59.1M | 4.5x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; magnetic resonance imaging apparatus | 901813 | $315.9M | $158.7M | 1.9x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for physical or chemical analysis, for measuring or checking viscosity, porosity, expansion, surface tension or quantities of heat, sound or light, n.e.c. in heading no. 9027 | 902780 | $411.4M | $39.2M | 10.4x |
| Instruments and apparatus; gas or smoke analysis apparatus, for physical or chemical analysis | 902710 | $264.6M | $26.1M | 10.1x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for physical or chemical analysis, for measuring or checking viscosity, porosity, expansion, surface tension or quantities of heat, sound or light, exposure meters | 902789 | $355.8M | $45.3M | 7.8x |
| Chromatographs and electrophoresis instruments | 902720 | $325.5M | $15.5M | 20.9x |
| Surveying equipment; articles n.e.c. in heading no. 9015, including hydrographic, oceanographic, hydrological, meteorological or geophysical instruments and appliances (excluding compasses) | 901580 | $162.4M | $158.2M | 1.0x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; syringes, with or without needles | 901831 | $146.1M | $59.8M | 2.4x |
| Machines and appliances, instruments or apparatus of chapter 90; parts and accessories n.e.c. in chapter 90 | 903300 | $185.9M | $93.4M | 1.9x |
| Lenses, spectacle; unmounted, of materials other than glass | 900150 | $175.7M | $155.7M | 1.1x |
| Artificial parts of the body; excluding artificial joints | 902139 | $232.4M | $153.1M | 1.5x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for measuring or checking pressure | 902620 | $206.7M | $80M | 2.5x |
| Artificial parts of the body | 902131 | $218.2M | $95.6M | 2.2x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for measuring or checking the flow or level of liquids | 902610 | $174.2M | $127.9M | 1.3x |
| Instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories for those measuring or checking the flow, level, pressure or other variables of liquids or gases (excluding those of heading no. 9014, 9015, 9028 or 9032) | 902690 | $117.5M | $84.8M | 1.3x |
| Optical fibres, optical fibre bundles and cables; excluding those of heading no. 8544 | 900110 | $73.5M | $292.9M | 0.2x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; ultrasonic scanning apparatus | 901812 | $226.8M | $38M | 5.9x |
| Lenses; objective, for cameras, projectors or photographic enlargers or reducers, mounted, being parts or fittings for instruments or apparatus, of any material (excluding glass not optically worked) | 900211 | $137.4M | $14.5M | 9.4x |
| Instruments and apparatus; specially designed for telecommunications (e.g. cross-talk meters, gain measuring instruments, distortion factor meters, psophometers) | 903040 | $231.5M | $35.4M | 6.5x |
| Ophthalmic instruments and appliances | 901850 | $210M | $33.5M | 6.2x |
| Optical instruments and appliances; for measuring or checking, n.e.c. in chapter 90 | 903149 | $169.6M | $16.6M | 10.2x |
| Instruments, apparatus for measuring, checking electrical quantities, not meters of heading no. 9028; parts and accessories, for measuring or detecting alpha, beta, gamma, x-ray, cosmic and other radiations | 903090 | $135M | $32M | 4.2x |
| Spectrometers, spectrophotometers and spectrographs; using optical radiations (UV, visible, IR) | 902730 | $195.7M | $15.7M | 12.4x |
| Regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus; automatic, parts and accessories | 903290 | $249.6M | $44.5M | 5.6x |
| Therapeutic respiration apparatus; ozone, oxygen, aerosol therapy apparatus; artificial respiration or other therapeutic respiration apparatus | 901920 | $192.9M | $19.4M | 9.9x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for measuring or checking variables of liquids or gases (excluding pressure or the flow and level of liquids and those of heading no. 9014, 9015, 9028 and 9032) | 902680 | $110.9M | $21.6M | 5.1x |
| Instruments and apparatus; n.e.c. in heading no. 9030, without a recording device | 903089 | $100.6M | $16.1M | 6.2x |
| Apparatus based on the use of x-rays; including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus, whether or not for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses, computed tomography apparatus | 902212 | $169.6M | $13.7M | 12.3x |
| Instruments and apparatus; for measuring or checking voltage, current, resistance or power, without a recording device (excluding multimeters) | 903033 | $114.8M | $48.2M | 2.3x |
| Wrist-watches; electrically operated, with or without a stop-watch, (other than those of heading no. 9101) with mechanical display only | 910211 | $125.3M | $13.9M | 8.9x |
| Instruments, apparatus and models; designed for demonstrational purposes (in education or exhibitions), unsuitable for other uses | 902300 | $66.9M | $51.3M | 1.3x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; tubular metal needles and needles for sutures | 901832 | $86M | $51M | 1.6x |
| X-ray tubes | 902230 | $78.1M | $161.3M | 0.4x |
| Navigational instruments and appliances; for aeronautical or space navigation (excluding compasses) | 901420 | $68.1M | $76.9M | 0.8x |
| Medical, surgical instruments and appliances; electro-diagnostic apparatus (including apparatus for functional exploratory examination or for checking physiological parameters), n.e.c. in item no. 9018.1 | 901819 | $83M | $65.7M | 1.2x |
| Orthopaedic or fracture appliances | 902110 | $49.9M | $83.1M | 0.6x |
| Optical appliances and instruments; parts and accessories for articles of heading no. 9013 | 901390 | $109.7M | $5.2M | 20.9x |
| Apparatus based on the use of x-rays, including radiography or radiotherapy apparatus; for other than medical, surgical, dental or veterinary uses | 902219 | $122.9M | $5.2M | 23.4x |
| Wrist-watches; whether or not incorporating a stop-watch facility, with automatic winding | 910221 | $114.3M | $1.2M | 94.5x |
| Lenses, contact; unmounted, of any material, excluding elements of glass not optically worked | 900130 | $34.9M | $18.9M | 1.8x |
| Regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus; automatic type, thermostats | 903210 | $50.8M | $12.8M | 3.9x |
Pick a dot to see what that product would take to make here.
Categories where people are reporting problems and the country imports heavily. A coincidence worth looking at — not a combined score. The two numbers count different things and are shown separately for that reason.
No category currently clears the bar on both sides. That is a real finding: it means the problems people are reporting and the goods the country buys abroad are not pointing at the same place yet.
Joined on the research category, which is the coarsest link available — eight categories cover every commodity. Treat it as a hint about where to look, not as a match between a reported problem and a product.
A ranking is only as honest as its exclusions.