Indium and rubber are out, while arsenic, feldspar, helium, and manganese are in. Meanwhile, a new list of “strategic raw materials” has been set out. 

The European Commission has been publishing critical materials lists for over a decade. The first list was published in 2011 and it is updated every three years. Critical materials are considered to be those that have high economic importance for the EU (based on the value added of corresponding EU manufacturing sectors, corrected by a substitution index) and a high supply risk (based on supply concentration at global and EU levels weighted by a governance performance index, corrected by recycling and substitution parameters).

The 2023 assessment screened 70 candidate raw materials, comprising 67 individual materials and three materials groups: the heavy and light rare earth elements, and the platinum group metals. Titanium metal was assessed in addition to titanium, while aluminium and bauxite were merged for consistency reasons.

The 2023 list adds arsenic, feldspar, helium, and manganese to the group of materials classified as critical in 2020, while indium and natural rubber drop off the list. 

Copper and nickel do not meet the thresholds (and have not done so since 2011), principally because of their large-scale diversified supply base. However, they are now included as “strategic raw materials”, in line with the Critical Raw Materials Act which set out a list of raw materials important for technologies that support the twin green and digital transition and defence and aerospace objectives.  These are as follows:

·      Bismuth

·      Boron - metallurgy grade

·      Cobalt

·      Copper

·      Gallium

·      Germanium

·      Lithium - battery grade

·      Magnesium metal

·      Manganese - battery grade

·      Natural Graphite - battery grade

·      Nickel - battery grade

·      Platinum Group Metals

·      Rare Earth Elements for magnets (Nd, Pr, Tb, Dy, Gd, Sm, and Ce)

·      Silicon metal

·      Titanium metal

·      Tungsten

To determine the list above, strategic importance was determined based on the relevance of a raw material for the green and digital transition as well as defence and space applications, taking into account the amount of strategic technologies using a raw material as an input; the amount of a raw material needed for manufacturing relevant strategic technologies; and the expected global demand for relevant strategic technologies. Also considered is forecasted demand growth and the difficulty of increasing production.