The European Union imports roughly 60% of its critical raw materials.

Omissions

• No source located in this search states the exact aggregate figure of '60%' of critical raw materials imported; the closest aggregate figure found is a think-tank analysis stating the EU 'imports 80 per cent of its demand for critical raw materials'.
• The widely used '90%' figure for rare materials most often refers to China's share of EU rare-earth supply (about 90%), not to total EU import dependence, which is generally put higher, at about 98% of rare-earth imports and 100% of heavy rare earths in 2023.
• EU import dependence varies enormously across individual raw materials (from near 0% for some domestically produced metals to 100% for many rare earths), so any single aggregate percentage depends on the basket and weighting used.
• Most of the sources found are think-tank analyses, policy briefs or statistical aggregators citing the European Commission rather than a single official Eurostat indicator labelled 'import dependence rate for critical raw materials'; the aggregate figure should ideally be sourced to the Raw Materials Scoreboard / Commission CRM factsheets.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission — European Critical Raw Materials Act"The EU is heavily dependent on imports of critical raw materials from third countries. Our dependency, combined with the growing global demand due to the shift towards a digital and green economy makes supply chains vulnerable." The page also gives benchmarks of 10% extraction, 40% processing and 25% recycling of the EU's annual needs by 2030 and a 65% cap on supply of any single third country for strategic raw materials.
• PrimaryEurostat Statistics Explained — International trade in critical raw materialsEurostat data on EU import concentration for CRMs: "For its imports of gallium, the EU was extremely dependent on Chinese imports being the origin of 77% of all gallium imports into the EU in 2025"; for ferro-tungsten "China was the top partner with 68% of the value of imports"; antimony imports came primarily from Tajikistan (52%), with China's share dropping from 16% in 2024 to 3% in 2025.
• SecondaryIEP@BU (Bocconi) — The EU's dependency on critical materials (policy brief)"emerging market economies dominate this space, and the EU is highly dependent on critical raw material imports from China in particular, which provides the EU with about 90% of its supply of REEs (European Commission, 2023)"
• SecondaryIstituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) — Europe's Dependence on Critical Raw Materials"The EU still imports 80 per cent of its demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) however. A considerable share originates in China, raising concern about an impending strategic dependence..." and "the EU's import reliance for neodymium and dysprosium is 100 per cent, with China accounting for 95 per cent of world production."
• SecondaryLSE China Dialogues blog — Securing Critical Raw Materials in the EU"The EU relies on China for up to 98% of its rare earth imports."
• SecondaryStatista — Critical raw materials: EU supply by mineral & nation 2023"As of 2023, China supplied 100 percent of the EU's heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). South Africa supplied 94 percent of the ruthenium, while Brazil and the DRC supplied 92 percent of the niobium and 63 percent of the cobalt, respectively."