Most imports of rare earth elements are contained in manufactured products

Neodymium, for example, is a rare earth element that is important for magnets in electric vehicles or wind turbines. China accounts for 93 percent of the production of permanent magnets containing rare earth elements. Rare earth elements are also used in defence equipment, telephone handsets, computer screens, telescopic and optical lenses, catalysts used in road vehicles, and for polishing glass.

Other critical raw materials, such as aluminium, nickel and copper, are widely imported as raw materials but are also contained in many imports. They are in the top five based on import value, both as unprocessed raw materials and contained in imported products. Coking coal is the third most important critical raw material in terms of import value. Coking coal, or metallurgical coal, is a special type of coal used in blast furnaces to produce steel.

The category of rare earth elements is the third most important critical raw material when it comes to imports of products containing critical raw materials (after aluminium and copper). However, on the list of (almost) unprocessed critical raw materials entering the Netherlands, rare earth elements only rank in 24th place. The Netherlands also imports scandium, magnesium, antimony and platinum metals in imported products, but almost never as unprocessed raw materials.

China is the leading supplier of products containing critical raw materials

China was the leading supplier of products containing critical raw materials to the Netherlands in 2023, just as it was in 2022. However, over half of imports from China are goods that pass through the Netherlands but remain in foreign ownership and are destined to leave the Netherlands again. When this form of quasi-transit is excluded, Germany is the largest supplier of products containing critical raw materials by far. Products from Germany may also contain critical raw materials produced in China, however.

The Netherlands imported goods worth 63.1 billion euros from China in 2023. That figure was lower than in 2022, mainly because of lower prices for Chinese exports. By contrast, the value of imports from Germany, the second-largest supplier, was slightly higher in 2023 than it was in 2022, reaching 50.7 billion euros in 2023. In Q1 2024, Germany made up even more ground against China as a supplier of imports, and China now has only a marginal lead. This is partly due to a sharp drop in the import value of Chinese solar panels.

Telephone handsets, pharmaceuticals, laptops/tablets, medical devices and solar panels are the most commonly imported products containing critical raw materials. The products most commonly imported into the Netherlands from China are laptops/tablets, solar panels and telephone handsets.

China ranks only ninth as supplier of critical raw materials

In global terms, China is a major miner and processor of critical raw materials. These are then exported to the Netherlands mainly in finished products such as laptops, computers and solar panels. The Netherlands imports much less of these critical raw materials from China in unprocessed or barely processed form. In 2023, the Netherlands obtained more critical raw materials from Norway and Iceland (mainly aluminium), Australia, the US (mainly coking coal), Russia (mainly nickel), Canada, South Africa (nickel, aluminium) and Chile (copper, aluminium). The Netherlands does obtain other raw materials from China, such as magnesium, manganese, tungsten and cobalt. China is the Netherlands’ main supplier of magnesium, tungsten and cobalt, and the second most important supplier of manganese (after Norway).