Data extracted in June 2025
Planned article update: June 2026
Highlights
In 2024, the EU was heavily dependent on China for imports of magnesium and gallium.
In 2024, the EU was heavily dependent on Brazil for imports of ferro-niobium on Türkiye for imports of borates and on Tajikistan for antimony.
In 2024, 95% of EU imports of rare earth elements came from China, Malaysia and Russia combined.
Critical raw materials are essential to the EU's economic strength and strategic autonomy. They are indispensable for a broad range of strategic sectors including the net zero industry, the digital industry, aerospace, and defence sectors, and stand at the very beginning of each value chain. Amongst the non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials that are assessed by the European Commission, some are defined as critical based on objective criteria, including their economic importance and their supply risk.
The EU is heavily dependent on imports of certain raw materials. In most cases, production within the EU is small and mostly involves processing and much less mining or extraction. Additionally, imports are often concentrated in 1 or 2 partners, which makes the EU vulnerable to supply disruptions in critical technology sectors.
This article provides data on certain critical raw materials, selected based on their supply chain risks or recent restrictions introduced by key partner countries.
The main findings are the following
- the volume of EU imports of critical raw materials decreased between 2019 (2021 for REE+) and 2024, except for borates (between 2023 and 2024) and gallium
- for magnesium, ferro-niobium, borates and gallium, the main partner accounted for more than 70% of total EU imports
- the import prices of REE+, gallium, antimony and natural graphite increased in 2024 while those of magnesium, ferro-niobium and borates decreased
Selection of critical raw materials for this article
Since 2011, an assessment report is published every 3 years which has the aim of assessing the materials considered as critical. In 2020, the European Commission made a foresight study of critical raw materials for strategic technologies and sectors in the EU. The document identifies 24 materials that are important for 3 sectors: renewables, e-mobility and defence & space. For each of these materials the supply risk was identified as shown in Figure 1. This article provides data on the materials with a very high or high supply risk. In addition, gallium, antimony and natural graphite are also analysed because of the restrictions announced by China on the export of these products as well as of germanium.
Figure 1 identifies 7 materials with very high or high supply risk: light rare earth elements (LREEs), heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), magnesium, niobium, germanium, borates and scandium. Due to data restrictions, it is not possible to identify LREEs and HREEs separately, nor is it possible to distinguish them from scandium and yttrium. Consequently, the LREEs, HREEs, scandium and yttrium are reported together as REE+. Furthermore, although niobium is a combination of several codes in the collection of trade data, due to data confidentiality, reporting in this article is restricted to ferro-niobium. Likewise, reporting for antimony is restricted to antimony oxides and unwrought antimony in powder form. Finally, it is not possible to report on germanium because it cannot be distinguished from zirconium.
To summarise, in this article the following products will be discussed: rare earth elements including scandium and yttrium (REE+), magnesium, ferro-niobium, borates, gallium, antimony and natural graphite. All the materials analysed in this article were identified as critical in the EU assessment reports disseminated since 2011. The data will show the main supplying countries in 2024 as well as imports and exports for the period 2019 to 2024. A detailed list of the product codes making up the materials discussed in this article is presented in the section on data sources.
Rare earth elements, scandium and yttrium (REE+)
REE+ are a set of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. They are used in everyday technologies like cellphones and computers but also in advanced medical technologies like MRIs, laser scalpels and even some cancer drugs. In defence applications, they are used in satellite communications, guidance systems and aircraft structures. They are critical in a number of green technologies, especially those that are going to support net zero carbon emissions goals, like wind turbines and electric vehicles.
The volume of imports of REE+ products increased in 2022, stabilised in 2023 and decreased strongly in 2024 (see Figure 2). Their price fell by 15% in 2023 but returned to 2022 levels in 2024 . In 2023, the ratio of imports to exports measured in volume was 2.3, meaning that the EU imported 2.3 tonnes for every tonne it exported. Aggregated data for the EU, prior to 2021 is not comparable with later data due to a shift in the level of confidential data.
The bulk of EU imports of REE+ originated from China (46%), followed by Russia (28%) and Malaysia (20%). China was also the main partner for 8 of the 14 detailed products shown in Table 1. For most of the imported products, the concentration of imports, as measured by the share of the top-3 importers was more than 90%.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element which has applications in automotive, aerospace, electronics and biomedical industries. Even if magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the earth's crust, it has been listed in the EU Critical Raw Materials list since 2011 because of the large EU dependency, especially for the extraction and processing stages.
Imports of magnesium remained stable in volume between 2019 and 2021 before increasing by 27% in 2022, but falling by 33% in 2023 and 2% in 2024 (see Figure 3). For exports, although the quantity is significantly lower than for imports, a similar pattern is visible with an increase in 2022 followed by a drop in 2023 and 2024. Between 2021 and 2022 prices for both imports (from 2.9 €/kg to 5.5 €/kg) and especially exports (from 3.2 €/kg to 7.4 €/kg) increased sharply but fell in 2023 and 2024.
For its imports of magnesium, the EU was extremely dependent on Chinese imports which made up 96% of all magnesium imports into the EU. In the case of magnesium, the ratio between imports and exports in quantity was equal to 13.5, which means that the EU imported 13.5 tonnes of magnesium against 1 tonne exported.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Ferro-niobium
Ferro-niobium is an important iron-niobium alloy, mainly used in the automotive, construction and steel industry. Ferro-niobium is considered a critical raw material, not only due to its supply risk but also due to its economic importance for the EU and limited substitutability by other raw materials.
Between 2019 and 2024, imports and exports of ferro-niobium were fairly stable (see Figure 4). However, import prices rose from €19.2 per kg to €24.7 per kg and export prices rose from €19.2 per kg to €27.3 per kg.
For its imports of ferro-niobium, the EU was very dependent on Brazilian imports which made up 86% of all ferro-niobium imports into the EU. Brazil was followed at some distance by Canada from where 14% of EU imports of ferro-niobium originated (see Table 3). The ratio between imports and exports is high, equaling 7.4, which means that the EU imported 7.4 tonnes of ferro-niobium for each tonne it exported.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Borates
Borates are a key input material in the production of fibreglass insulation, textile fibreglass, borosilicate glass, ceramics and fertilisers. Borates can also be found in many automotive parts, notably in many components for electric cars, playing a key role for the transition of the EU to green mobility.
Between 2023, EU imports of borates rose from 423 thousand tonnes to 441 thousand tonnes while exports fell from to 42 tonnes to 40 thousand tonnes. In 2024 for every tonne exported, 11 tonnes were imported. Unfortunately due to partial data confidentiality, data prior to 2023 is not comparable with 2023 data in a meaningful way.
Türkiye is the largest origin for 5 of the 10 borates shown in Table 4 and also occurs as 1 of the top-3 partners for all but 1 of the other borates. Overall, 81% of borates originated from Türkiye, followed by the United States with 15%.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Gallium
Gallium compounds are widely used in smartphones, satellites, radar systems, LEDs and photovoltaics. Imports of gallium increased from 26 tonnes in 2019 to 51 tonnes in 2022 (see Figure 6). In the same period exports increased from 4 tonnes to 29 tonnes. However, between 2022 and 2024 both imports (-48%) and exports (-75%) fell sharply. Both import and export prices of gallium increased strongly in 2022 and continued to increase in 2023 and 2024.
For its imports of gallium, the EU was extremely dependent on Chinese imports being the origin of 73% of all gallium imports into the EU in 2023 (see Table 5). Canada and Russia were the next largest partner with 13% and 11% respectively.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Antimony
Antimony trioxide is used in flame retardants. It is also alloyed with lead to produce batteries used in vehicles, back-up power systems and other industrial applications. Imports of antimony fell slightly, from 25 thousand tonnes in 2019 to 24 thousand tonnes in 2024 (see Figure 7). In the same period exports increased from 8.1 thousand tonnes to 9.3 thousand tonnes. Both import and export prices of antimony increased strongly between 2019 and 2022, dropped somewhat in 2023 but reached record high values in 2024.
EU imports of antimony, came primarily from Tajikistan, being the origin of 54% of all antimony imports into the EU in 2023 (see Table 6). China and Vietnam followed with 16% and 9% respectively.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Natural graphite
Natural graphite is used in steel production and as a dry lubricant in mechanical applications. It is also a key material in the production of lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles (EVs) and portable electronics.
Imports of natural graphite increased from 98 thousand tonnes in 2019 to 163 thousand tonnes in 2023 but fell to 95 thousand tonnes in 2024 (see Figure 8). In the same period exports increased from 9 thousand tonnes to 10 thousand tonnes. Import prices rose by 28% between 2019 and 2024, while export prices after dropping in 2020 and 2021 climbed back to 2019 levels in the following years.
China (38%) was the main origin of EU imports of natural graphite as shown in Table 7. Madagascar (22%) and Mozambique (17%) were the next largest partners. The ratio between imports and exports is extremely high, equaling 9.6, which means that the EU imported 9.6 tonnes of natural graphite for each tonne it exported.
Source: Eurostat ds-045409
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Trade data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU countries but also to statistics of a significant number of non-EU countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.
Table 8 provides the detailed description of the product codes used in this article.
Context
Raw materials are crucial to Europe's economy. They form a strong industrial base, producing a broad range of goods and applications used in everyday life and modern technologies. Reliable and unhindered access to certain raw materials is a growing concern within the EU and across the globe. To address this challenge, the European Commission has created a list of critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, which is subject to a regular review and update. CRMs combine raw materials of high importance to the EU economy and of high risk associated with their supply.