- Data extracted in November 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
Trade in raw materials is extremely important for the sustainability of European countries and their economies. Construction, chemicals, the automotive and aerospace industries, machinery and equipment are some of the sectors that are most dependent on access to raw materials.
Furthermore, the high costs of energy along with the dependence of the European Union (EU) on energy imports emphasises the importance of ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials for the EU economy and the need to define strategies to meet these challenges.
,_EU-28,_2003%E2%80%9313.png)
(EUR million)
Source: Eurostat (tet00006)
.png)
Source: Eurostat (tet00006)
,_2003_and_2012.png)
(EUR million)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)
(%)
Source: Eurostat (tet00033)
(EUR 1 000 million)
Source: Eurostat (tsdgp220)
_new.png)
(EUR 1 000 million)
Source: Eurostat (tsdgp220)
(EUR 1 000 million)
Source: Eurostat (tsdgp230)
(%)
Source: Data compiled based on information from 'Defining critical raw materials' (http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/raw-materials/specific-interest/critical/index_en.htm)
,_EU-28,_2002%E2%80%9313.png)
(2010=100)
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intertrd)
Main statistical findings
The EU has an ongoing trade deficit in raw materials (SITC sections 2 and 4, including non-manufactured goods such as oilseeds, cork, wood, pulp, textile fibres, ores and other minerals as well as animal and vegetable oils) since 2002, the first year for which EU28 data are available. Both imports and exports have rapidly recovered from the low levels registered in 2009, and in 2013 the deficit amounted to EUR 30.8 billion. In 2013, the largest part of imports was accounted for by metal ores, with a share of 41 %. Other products with a large share of imports include vegetable fats and oils and oilseeds.
As shown in Figure 1, in 2003 the trade balance for raw materials in the EU-28 was in deficit by EUR 24 816 million, which by 2008 further expanded to reach EUR 43 289 million. In 2009 the deficit decreased, reaching its lowest record (EUR 19 405 million) over the period 2003–13. The deficit increased again until 2011 (EUR 40 366 million), then in the last two years once again started to reduce to reach EUR 30 758 million in 2013.
Looking at the total trade (both intra and extra-EU) of raw materials at Member State level (see Table 1), Germany, the Netherlands and Italy were the largest EU importers with EUR 39 629 million, EUR 23 088 million and EUR 18 887 million respectively in 2013, while Malta, Cyprus and Croatia recorded the lowest values (EUR 30 million, EUR 70 million and EUR 344 million respectively).
The trend was similar for EU Member States' exports of raw materials, with the Netherlands, Germany and France presenting the highest values (EUR 28 098 million, EUR 22 641 million and EUR 11 517 million respectively), while the lowest were found in Malta (EUR 15 million), Cyprus (EUR 83 million) and Luxembourg (EUR 332 million).
At this point, it should be mentioned that the high values of imports and exports in the Netherlands and Belgium are a consequence of the ‘Rotterdam’ (or ‘Antwerp’) effect. This effect arises because imports from extra-EU are attributed to the EU Member State where the goods are put in free circulation, rather than the EU Member State of final destination. This particular mismatch is referred to as ‘the Rotterdam effect’ because of the importance of Rotterdam as a transit port.
Out of 28 EU Member States, 14 recorded a trade surplus for raw materials (see Table 1). More specifically, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Romania and Latvia had in 2013 the highest surpluses for raw materials at EUR 5 010 million, EUR 4 204 million, EUR 1 651 million, EUR 1 197 million and EUR 903 million respectively. On the other hand, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain had the highest trade deficits for raw materials, at EUR 16 988 million, EUR 12 264 million, EUR 5 035 million, EUR 4 303 million and EUR 3 966 million respectively.
Comparing the evolution of both imports and exports of raw materials in the EU-28 for the period 2003–13 (see Figure 3), it appears that both followed the same trend, increasing from 2003 until 2008, while in 2009 they dropped steeply as a consequence of the global financial and economic crisis. However, imports of raw materials recorded a larger decrease (2008: EUR 75 315 million vs 2009: EUR 47 270 million) than exports of raw materials (2008: EUR 32 026 million vs 2009: EUR 27 866 million). This resulted from the global slowdown in early 2009, affecting the EU-28 demand for extra EU-28 raw materials. Subsequently, trade in raw materials recovered and remained above the pre-crisis levels. EU-28 imports of raw materials increased to a peak in 2011 (EUR 85 397 million) and then decreased until 2013 (EUR 76 023 million). Similarly, EU-28 exports grew steadily from 2009 to peak in 2012 (EUR 47 553million), then declined again in 2013 to EUR 45 264 million.
In 2012, China (37.0 %) accounted for the highest share of total world imports of raw materials, followed by the EU-28 (13.6 %) and Japan (8.2 %). The lowest shares among the world’s main trading nations were observed in Mexico (1.3 %), Brazil (0.7 %) and Singapore (0.6 %). For exports of raw materials the United States, Brazil and the EU-28 were top, with 14.0 %, 9.6 % and 8.9 % respectively of the world total, while Mexico, South Korea and Singapore were at the other end of the scale (1.2 %, 1.1 % and 0.4 % respectively).
Looking at changes in the the trade balance for raw materials between 2003 and 2012 (see Table 3), Brazil had the largest increase in its surplus (from EUR 10 229 million to EUR 46 729 million), followed by the United States (from EUR 10 614 million to EUR 39 929 million) and Canada (from EUR 11 451 million to EUR 24 247 million). China, on the other hand, had the largest increase in its trade deficit for raw materials between 2003 and 2012 (from EUR -28 271 million to EUR -207 975 million). It should be noted that China has imposed export restrictions on rare earth elements (REE) [2], some of them having been categorised as critical raw materials. This could partially explain the Chinese figures.
EU-28 trade partners for raw materials
Brazil has been the EU’s leading supplier of raw materials since 2004. However, imports from Brazil have decreased by 22 % from 2012 to 2013 and were close to import levels from the United States, the second largest EU supplier (see Figure 4). Canada (5.9 %), Indonesia (5.5 %) and Russia (5.4 %) were the other main partner countries for imports.
EU exports of raw materials were relatively low, as they only made up less than 3 % of total EU exports. China ranked top among EU partners with a share of 22.2 %, followed by Turkey (10.5 %) and the United States (7.3 %).
EU imports of raw materials from developing and least-developed countries
The EU-28 imports a range of products from developing countries as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC). In 2013, the value of imported raw materials from developing countries amounted to EUR 36 300 million (see Figure 5). The share of EU imports of raw materials from developing countries in total imports of raw materials has been relatively stable throughout the last decade, varying between 50 % and 60 %, and in 2013 reached 47.8 %, the lowest share over this period.
EU-28 imports of raw materials from developing countries during the period 2003–13 followed the general trend. Specifically, imports steadily increased from 2003 until 2008, when they reached EUR 44 500 million. In 2009 they fell to EUR 28 100 million likely as a consequence of the global financial and economic crisis. However, in 2010 and 2011 imports increased again reaching EUR 50 900 million before dropping again in 2012 and 2013 (EUR 42 600 million and EUR 36 300 million respectively).
At country level in 2013 (see Figure 6), Germany recorded the highest value of imported raw materials from developing countries (EUR 6 700 million), followed by the Netherlands (EUR 5 000 million) and Italy (EUR 4 500 million).
EU-28 imports of raw materials from least-developed countries were relatively lower than imports from developing countries, but they seemed to follow the same trend (see Figure 7). Specifically, EU-28 imports of raw materials increased steadily from 2003 (EUR 1 330 million) to 2008 (EUR 1 880 million). In 2009, the economic recession led to a decrease in raw material imports from the least developed countries to EUR 1 230 million. Similarly to the developing countries, imports from least-developed countries increased again in 2010 (EUR 1 680 million) and 2011 (EUR 2 110 million) but then fell again in 2012 and 2013 (EUR 1 970 million and EUR 1 840 million respectively).
The unit value [3] index of raw materials imports and of exports (as shown in Figure 8), which can be used as an approximation of the price movements, almost followed the same trend. Specifically, the unit value index for both imports and exports increased from 2002 to 2008 before dropping in 2009 and increasing again in 2010 and 2011. The import unit value index fell in 2012 and 2013, while the export unit value index increased slightly in 2012 before falling in 2013.
Critical raw materials
Raw materials are fundamental to the EU economy, and they play a key role in maintaining and improving the quality of life of European citizens. Recent years have seen a rapid growth in the number of materials used across products. Securing reliable and undistorted access to certain raw materials is of growing concern within the EU and across the globe. As a consequence, there is a high risk associated with their supply. Thus, within the framework of the EU Raw Materials Initiative, it was decided to identify a list of critical raw materials at EU level, in close cooperation with EU Member States and stakeholders.
A 2014 Commission communication set out a revised list of ‘critical raw materials’ (COM (2014) 297 final). The 2014 list included 13 of the 14 materials identified in a previous list set up in 2011 (COM (2011) 25 final), with only tantalum moving out of the list (due to a reduction in supply risk), and the previous rare earth materials being divided into heavy rare earth materials and light rare earth materials. Six new materials appeared on the list: borates, chromium, coking coal, magnesite, phosphate rock and silicon metal, bringing the number up to 20 raw materials which are now considered critical by the European Commission. The other 12 raw materials were antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, indium, magnesium, natural graphite, niobium, platinum group metals and tungsten.
China is the EU-28’s major supplier of critical raw materials, but many other countries are also important suppliers of specific materials. EU primary supply across all candidate materials is estimated at around 9 %. In the case of critical raw materials, supply from EU sources is even more limited [4].
Table 4 shows the EU’s major producers of critical raw materials, with China clearly being the most influential in terms of global supply. Several other countries hold dominant positions for specific raw materials, such as the United States (beryllium) and Brazil (niobium). Supply of other materials, for example platinum group metals and borates, is more diverse but still relatively concentrated.
Data sources and availability
Data sources
Apart from table 4, the source of data is Eurostat for the EU Member States and Comtrade for other countries (table 2).
The statistical information is mainly provided by countries on the basis of customs declarations. Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat.
Comparability between EU international trade statistics and those of its main partners
There are two main approaches used for the measurement of international trade in goods, the general trade system and the special trade system. For extra-EU trade statistics, the special trade system is applied which means that goods from a non-EU country which are received into customs warehouses are not recorded in international trade in goods statistics unless they subsequently go into free circulation in the Member State of receipt (or are placed under the customs procedures for inward processing). Similarly, outgoing goods from customs warehouses are not recorded as exports. The general trade system, which is applied by most of the EU's main partner countries, is a wider concept since it includes all goods entering or leaving the country.
SITC classification
International trade in goods statistics publishes figures according to the Standard International Trade Classification of the United Nations (Standard international trade classification (SITC)). At present the fourth revised version of the SITC is applied which has a five-level hierarchical structure with purely numerical coding. The SITC enables comparisons on a worldwide basis.
Context
In terms of percentage, the EU is highly dependent on imports of raw materials. For this reason, raw materials security and related strategies have become one of the key priorities in the EU’s external actions and form an integral component of the EU’s interior policy making. The foundations of these strategies were laid in three key documents:
- COM(2008) 699 final ‘The Raw Materials Initiative’;
- COM(2011) 25 final tackling the challenges in commodity markets and on raw materials); and
- COM(2014) 297 final on the review of the list of critical raw materials for the EU and the implementation of the raw materials initiative, based in the global economic situation and the EU’s high dependence on imports of certain raw materials.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
- International trade, see:
- International trade data (t_ext)
- International trade long-term indicators (t_ext_lti)
Database
- International trade, see:
- International trade data (ext)
- International trade long-term indicators (ext_lti)
- International trade (ext_lti_int)
Dedicated section
Methodology / Metadata
Source data for tables, figures and maps (MS Excel)
Other information
External links
- European Commission — Directorate-General for Trade, EU Trade Policy for Raw Materials (second activity report)
- European Commission — Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Enterpreneuship and SMEs, Non-energy raw materials
- European Commission — Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Enterpreneuship and SMEs, Defining 'critical' raw materials
Notes
- ↑ Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council — The raw materials initiative — Meeting our critical needs for growth and jobs in Europe (SEC(2008) 2741).
- ↑ Rare earth elements (REEs) are coveted minerals used in high-tech products. China has about 50 % of known world reserves and until very recently was behind 95 % of global supplies. It has reduced its exports drastically since 2010. The export restrictions imposed by China on the rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum are mainly quotas, export duties, minimum export price system, as well as additional requirements and procedures for exporters.
- ↑ When the expenditures or value of production of an item is divided by the quantity, the result is known as a unit value. (in: OECD Glossary of statistical terms, http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=5547).
- ↑ ‘Defining “critical” raw materials’: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/raw-materials/critical/index_en.htm.