Given widespread demand and concentrated supply, international trade will play a key role in satisfying the rapidly growing demand for CRMs such as rare earths minerals, lithium, cobalt, nickel which are essential for renewable energy and digital technologies. This is even more pressing in the short to medium term, as scaling up of new CRM mining and recycling capacities takes time. Indeed, between 2007-09 and 2017-19, the value of trade in CRM expanded faster than overall merchandise trade, growing at 38% while all merchandise trade grew by 31%). Ttrade in lithium increased spectacularly by 438%, and trade in all ores and minerals on average by 57%.
Export restrictions on critical raw materials
Countries that impose restrictions on exports of raw materials could well compromise achieving global net zero CO2 emissions targets and the digital transformation necessary to ensure economic security. The OECD monitors the use of these restrictions in order to contribute to a better understanding of why countries resort to such measures and their impact on international markets.