Amber Black Market

About 30000 +/- northern Europeans work in the regional amber industry, mostly as illegal miners. Some work for the state or as middlemen, craftsmen, and retailers, while others run the smuggling networks. Most Ukrainian amber is smuggled into Poland. 80% +/- of northern Europe's amber end up in China and the Middle East. Chinese buyers prefer unpolished amber because craftsmen can fashion into designs Chinese consumers like. Poland recovers roughly five tons of amber annually, mostly from beaches. But the Polish city of Gdansk on the Baltic coast remains the centre of the international amber trade where Chinese and other wholesale buyers sort, grade, and buy huge piles of smuggled amber.

Useful links:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-21/illegal-amber-mining-creating-environmental-disaster-in-ukraine/11745470
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqyEzm1Q5V4