OECD Inventory of Export Restrictions on Critical Raw Materials 2026

1. International trade in critical raw materials and export restrictions

Key messages

• Export restrictions on critical raw materials have increased fivefold since 2009. Growth tapered in 2024 to a 0.6% annual growth rate but restrictions remain at historically high levels following the sharp rise in 2022‑2023.

• New export restrictions introduced in 2024 were implemented by a more diverse group of countries than in previous years, pointing to broader adoption of such measures among resource-rich developing economies, particularly in Africa and Asia.

• Several materials critical to industrial and energy-transition supply chains—including cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare-earth elements—face particularly high exposure to export restrictions: around 70% of global exports of cobalt and manganese were subject to at least one export restriction in 2022‑2024. Similarly high levels of exposure were also observed for graphite (47%), rare-earth elements (45%), and tin (41%).

• The materials that saw the largest increases in export restrictions in 2024 included tantalum, lithium, tin, manganese, nickel, cobalt and several non-ferrous minor metals, including vanadium and niobium. The growth rate of export restrictions on niobium, tantalum, vanadium and lithium exceeded 10%.

• The share of CRM imports facing at least one restriction increased globally from 12.4% in the 2009‑2011 period to 16% in the 2022‑2024 period. Within the OECD, the EU and Japan saw reductions in their exposure over the observation period, but Japan’s exposure remains above the global average, with 18.4% of its CRM imports covered by export restrictions. Other OECD members with above global average exposure are the United Kingdom (22.7%) and Korea (21.8%).

• Export taxes and licensing requirements remain the most widely used export restriction instruments, but the most severe type of restrictions—such as export prohibitions—have become more common. In 2024, close to one quarter of newly introduced restrictions took the form of export prohibitions while licensing requirements, which in their most restrictive forms can have effects similar to prohibitions, accounted for 38% of the new measures.

Raw materials such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel or tungsten are essential to security and prosperity, playing a critical role in energy and digital transitions, and expanding defence capabilities. They are also used intensively in the manufacturing of semiconductors, advanced electronics, fibre optics, superalloys, permanent magnets, aerospace and other technologically advanced industries.

Demand for such critical raw materials (CRMs) is rising rapidly. However, supply is slow to adjust, and extraction and processing remain highly geographically and ownership-concentrated. Although the leading producers differ by material, the top three countries for each of cobalt, lithium and nickel account for over two-thirds of global production, rising to nearly 90% for rare-earth elements. The People’s Republic of China (hereafter, China) alone produces around 70% of global supply of rare-earth elements and graphite and more than 90% of germanium and magnesium.

Some CRMs, notably battery minerals, have seen significant supply increases in recent years but these increases have often been concentrated among major incumbent miners and refiners—particularly those in or owned by China—reinforcing supply concentration and driving price volatility (IEA, 2025[1]). Despite strong expectations for future demand growth, investment in mining and refining capacity expansion has stalled amid market and economic uncertainties. Recently announced projects are deemed unlikely to meaningfully diversify mineral supply in the foreseeable future (IEA, 2025[1]).

In this context, the persistent concentration of CRM mining and processing, and the growing use of export restrictions on CRMs documented in the OECD Inventory on Export Restrictions on Critical Raw Materials (OECD, 2026[2]), are increasingly viewed as threats to economic and national security in importing industrialised countries. Understanding—and proposing viable ways to counter—the growing use of such trade restrictions and other trade-distorting interventions in the CRM sector has thus become a significant systemic challenge.

While export restrictions take many forms and pursue diverse objectives (e.g., promoting domestic processing, protecting the environment, attracting investment, and raising public revenue) their effectiveness in achieving sustainable development goals remains contested. Moreover, restrictions—especially those imposed by major producers—can have significant negative spillovers on trading partners and often trigger similar actions by others, creating a cycle of rising prices and tightening global supply.

In response to these challenges, OECD Member countries are undertaking new policy initiatives to scale up high-quality investment in more diversified mining, processing and recycling capacity and to ensure a level playing field in the CRM industry – including through internationally agreed export credit rules1 and the signature of new international co-operation agreements in this area.2

Compiled since 2009, the OECD Inventory on Export Restrictions on Critical Raw Materials (OECD, 2026[2]) provides a key evidence base on the global use of export restrictions and their effects, and informs the design of these policy responses. The inventory is updated annually and provides detailed data on the incidence, type, scope and evolution of export restrictions across countries and products. The current update covers 2009‑2024.

Notes

← 1.  For example, the modernisation of the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits in July 2023 is a step forward in this direction. It allows financing under the Arrangement to be more flexible, better enabling it to face challenges posed by the economic and financial needs of projects—as well as the increasingly competitive landscape—and creates further incentives to support a wider range of climate-friendly transactions, including projects related to clean energy and ores.

← 2.  Several OECD members are also developing various forms of co-operation in the sphere of CRMs with resource-rich countries to mobilise investment and secure stable supply of CRMs as reflected in the proliferation of bilateral and plurilateral agreements. These agreements typically address both the security of CRM supply from the perspective of buying countries (typically framed in terms of supporting economic security and level playing field and energy transition and security) and the developmental objectives of supplying countries (typically framed as local economic development, value addition, technology transfer, as well as employment and investment in line with high ESG standards).