Raw materials - European Commission Skip to main content
Trade

Raw materials

Raw materials are the basis of a large number of industrial value chains in the EU. Specific raw materials are needed to make a wide range of industrial goods such as car engines, mobile phones or wind turbines.

Trade topics
  • Trade policy

The EU raw materials industry in a nutshell:

  • A large number of industries use raw materials as inputs, providing a total added value of €1,300 billion.
  • 30 million people are employed in the raw materials' industrial sector.
  • A sustainable supply of particular raw materials is of crucial importance for the development of green technologies.

EU trade policy and raw materials

Raw materials play a significant role in EU trade policy. In concrete terms, the European Commission developed a fully-fledged strategy for raw materials, which was outlined in the 2008 Communication entitled the Raw Materials Initiative. This was revised in February 2011 in a Communication, which further boosted the integration of raw material priorities in EU policies.

EU trade policy is actively committed to ensuring that international raw materials markets operate in a free and transparent manner. For this purpose, the EU’s trade strategy relies on three pillars:

  • Defining the rules of the game through bilateral and multilateral negotiations;
  • Enforcing the rules and tackling market barriers when required, and;
  • Promoting the debate on raw materials, both in bilateral and multilateral settings.

Results on raw materials

More on raw materials

Tune in to trade policy insights

Trade-off podcast - Episode 10

Tom Moylan meets the new Trade and Economic Security Commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, to discuss Mercosur, tariffs, and trust.

19/12/2024 | Episode 10 | 29 minutes

Image of Dora Correia and Johanna Lehne

Do you care about where our goods come from? Why does trade matter for the green transition?

These and many more questions are discussed in this podcast episode.

14/11/2024 | Episode 9 | 36 minutes

Latest news

Latest events