Monthly · Eurostat data for August 2026

OreOrbit Dependency Index

China's share of what the EU imports from outside the EU across the ten critical minerals behind Europe's defence industry. Each mineral counts equally.

32%: China's share in August 2026
-1 point: change from the month before
+3 points: change from a year earlier
3 of 10: minerals where China supplied more than half

Month by month

Equal-weighted average of China's share of the value of extra-EU imports, per mineral. Source: Eurostat Comext, via OreOrbit.

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China supplied 32% of the EU's imports of the ten critical minerals behind Europe's defence industry in August 2026, according to the OreOrbit Dependency Index by Bohemia Defense, up from 29% a year earlier.

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By mineral, August 2026

Rare earths84% -4 pts
Graphite60% +8 pts
Germanium59% +14 pts
Tungsten43% -2 pts
Lithium32% +28 pts
Cobalt27% +5 pts
Antimony8% +3 pts
Gallium7% -18 pts
Titanium4% 0 pts
Nickel1% 0 pts

China's share of the value of extra-EU imports, all tracked products of each mineral added up; change against the same month a year earlier.

How it is made

For each of the ten minerals, OreOrbit adds up the value of the EU's monthly imports from outside the EU of the products it tracks (for example permanent magnets, rare-earth compounds and metals for rare earths) and takes China's share.
The index is the plain average of the ten shares, so a small but critical mineral such as gallium counts as much as lithium.
Values, not tonnes; imports from outside the EU only. Single months can swing widely when few shipments arrive, so read the trend more than one month.
Updated automatically when Eurostat publishes a new month, usually about six weeks after the month ends.

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See the minerals on the live atlas