EU nearly 100 percent dependent on China for 17 key raw materials

Moscow (ANTARA) - The European Union (EU) is nearly 100 percent dependent on China for 17 key raw materials, said Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, Stephane Sejourne, on Friday. “There are 17 key raw materials, and the dependence on China for those materials is practically 100 percent,” Sejourne stated at the European Pulse Forum in Madrid. This situation endangers the EU’s economic security, particularly during the transition to a more digitalised economy, he added. At the same time, the EU is striving to reduce dependence on any single country to below 60 percent by developing mining and processing of raw materials within Europe, as well as diversifying supplies through cooperation with other partners, Sejourne said. As for China, that country “lowers prices, sometimes quite aggressively” to make European investments unprofitable and hinder the implementation of dependency reduction, the vice president noted. Therefore, the EU is considering the possibility of developing cooperation with countries such as Japan and South Korea, Sejourne said. The official added that the bloc is emphasising the implementation of this strategy over the next 12 months by allocating around €3 billion (approximately Rp60 trillion).