Decision-Making for Strategic Raw Materials Using Subjective and Objective Weighting

With the technological advancements, global urbanization, and dynamic socio-economic progress, the demand for strategic raw materials (SRMs) is expected to increase in the coming years, making raw material assessment both inevitable and indispensable. The comprehensive criticality assessment of these materials inherently involves a multitude of parameters, raw materials, and constantly changing variables. European Union (EU) has systematically conducted assessments of critical raw materials (CRMs) on a triennial basis since 2011. This paper focuses on the final report on CRMs for the EU, where SRMs including Bismuth, Boron, Cobalt, Gallium, Germanium, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Natural Graphite, Copper, Silicon, Titanium, Tungsten, and Nickel were first added to the list. In this context, the Entropy and CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation) methods were applied for subjective weighting using real data, while SWARA (Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) were used to incorporate the assessments of participating experts. These methods were employed to determine the weights of the main criteria, including supply risk (SR), economic importance (EI), main supplier share, evaluation of materials linked with sector share and value-added, substitution (EI and SR), and import reliance in the criticality matrix. Across all applied methodologies, the computational results consistently converge to demonstrate that supply risk, value-added, and import reliance are most profoundly associated with the comprehensive assessment of SRMs. The findings guide policymakers in developing countries in tailoring their own criticality assessments based on the most essential criteria.