The European Union imports about 80% of its minerals from China and from Chinese-controlled operations in Africa.
Industry & EmploymentEuropean Union
- Omissions
- The claim bundles two different sources (China and Chinese-controlled operations in Africa) into a single 80% figure; no source found measures such a combined share, and Africa's share of EU mineral imports is not documented at the level claimed.
- The '80%' figure circulates in some materials but only for narrow, specific segments — e.g. Bloomberg/European Commission research cited by Voronoi states 'Almost 80% of the lithium in electric vehicles and electronics batteries', which is a lithium-for-batteries statistic, not a share of all EU mineral imports.
- China's share of EU imports differs enormously by material (near 100% for some rare earths, far lower for others), so a single average masks wide dispersion and cannot be stated as a flat 80%.
- The most recent available data (ECB 2025, Eurostat/EU trade statistics 2025) describe periods on or before the session date, so the MEP could have known them.
- Sources
- PrimaryECB Research Bulletin — Critical input disruptions: mapping out the road to EU resilienceAccording to country-level trade data, in 2022 a third of FCIs imported by the EU came from China (Chart 1).
- PrimaryEurostat Statistics Explained — International trade in critical raw materialsfor magnesium, ferro-niobium, borates, gallium, lithium carbonates and ferro-tungsten, the main partner accounted for more than two-thirds of total EU imports
- AcademicKU Leuven VIVES Discussion Paper 109 — Strategic Global Supply Chains, China, and the Role of Critical Raw Materials for the EUEurostat COMEXT data reveal that the EU sources more than 20% of its imports from China for twelve Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), and over 50% for five. When weighted by Member State imports, the average dependence rises further.
- TertiaryVoronoi (citing Bloomberg/European Commission research) — China Dominates Europe's Critical Material Supply ChainEurope is 100% dependent on China for heavy rare earth elements used in technologies such as hybrid cars, fiber optics, and nuclear power. Almost 80% of the lithium in electric vehicles and electronics batteries ... This data was published by Bloomberg in May 2024, based on European Commission research.