Research report: The raw materials barometer 2026

Milgro surveys 300+ Dutch and 200+ Belgian organizations

You see it in your purchase invoices. In conversations with suppliers who can't provide clarity. In delivery times that keep increasing.

78% of Dutch organizations are already noticing something of the consequences of raw material scarcity and that percentage continues to grow. Because for the most part, we depend on other countries. Geopolitical tensions make that dependence increasingly uncertain. Around 70% of organizations surveyed in the Netherlands and Belgium share that concern.

What makes it even more worrying: 28% of Dutch organizations have no insight into which raw materials are critical for their own products or services. In Belgium, this is even 41%. Without that insight, you don't know where your organization is vulnerable and what you can do about it.

And that is exactly the gap that this research report maps: between the awareness that raw materials are becoming scarcer and more expensive, and actually moving towards a less dependent, circular business.

In the research report you will discover, among other things:

How to identify your top five critical raw materials
What three immediate steps you can take to become less dependent on critical raw materials
How other organizations have made the move to a circular approach and what you can learn from them.

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Research justification

For this report, quantitative online research was conducted among Dutch and Belgian decision-makers and influencers. The target group consists of senior management, middle management and operational staff with responsibilities in procurement, facility management, environment or sustainability.

All sectors of Dutch and Belgian business are represented in the sample. As a result, the survey provides a broad and representative picture of the current state of affairs regarding circularity within Dutch and Belgian organizations.

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