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Summary
REEs cluster in the high-risk, high-importance quadrant — the most dangerous supply dependencies for EU industry
Description
EU Critical Raw Materials: Supply Risk vs Economic Importance
This scatter plot positions all 34 EU Critical Raw Materials (CRM 2023 list) by their economic importance to EU industry (x-axis) and supply risk (y-axis). Bubble size reflects annual EU import value.
Key insight
The four NdFeB-relevant rare earth elements — Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy), and Terbium (Tb) — cluster in the upper-right "critical zone": high economic importance and high supply risk. Dy and Tb score highest on supply risk due to near-total Chinese dominance of heavy REE production and processing.
Reading the chart
- Upper-right quadrant (shaded): materials with simultaneously high economic importance and high supply risk — the most dangerous dependencies
- Bubble size: proportional to √(annual EU import value in €M)
- REEs are shown in red, battery materials in blue, PGMs in gold
Methodology
- Economic Importance (EI): composite score reflecting the material's role in EU high-value manufacturing sectors, weighted by sector economic value-added
- Supply Risk (SR): composite of import concentration (HHI), political stability of supplier countries, and substitutability
- Scores are approximate indices based on the JRC CRM 2023 methodology (0–10 scale)
Data
Source: European Commission / JRC, Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 — Final Report (doi:10.2873/725585)