The industrial linkages of China’s vanadium industry integrating the recovery stage and spatial correlations: Based on disaggregated and nested input-output model

Vanadium is increasingly recognized as a strategic and critical mineral resource on a global scale. Despite possessing the world’s largest reserves, China’s vanadium industry continues to face constraints such as limited industrialization and inadequate deep-processing capabilities. Mapping key industrial linkages is crucial for clarifying upstream-downstream interactions and enhancing the sector’s core competitiveness. In this study, we develop a disaggregated, nested input–output (I–O) model to systematically characterize these interdependencies. Our analysis reveals that, through a “resource-processing-application” global collaborative network, China’s vanadium industry has established an industrial ecosystem centered in the Asia-Pacific region. This ecosystem is defined by multiregional interconnectedness and comprehensive chain coverage, which collectively drive industrial advancement. In terms of industrial positioning, the core dynamic stems from a bidirectional synergy between China’s steel and chemical sectors. Regarding regional collaboration, upstream supply is directly bolstered by Australia’s iron ore mining industry. Downstream market linkages are anchored by the steel industries of Japan and Republic of Korea, which serve as technical collaboration hubs, while an export-oriented network is sustained by construction demand in the Middle East and emerging markets across the Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, the sequence of “material input-refining processing-vanadium steel output” characterizes its transnational circulation pattern.