Material Flow Accounts. 2023

The Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) of the Catalan economy totalled 43.9 million tonnes in 2023, a figure representing 5.5 tons per inhabitant, which means a decrease of 1.1% compared to the year before. The material productivity amounted to 6.8 euros per kg, with an increase of 8.5% in comparison with the previous year.

The main component of the DMC is domestic extraction, which totalled 32.3 million tonnes, while the physical trade balance with external markets amounted to 11.5 million tons.

With regard to domestic extraction, the materials with the greatest weights were non-metallic minerals (80.3% of the total) and biomass (19.7% of the total). The extraction of metallic minerals and fossil fuels was zero.

The physical trade balance with external markets totalled 11.5 million tons, with imports of materials amounting to 93.8 million tonnes, a figure exceeding exports (82.2 million tons). By territories, the balance with foreign markets stood at 19.0 million tons, while Catalonia was a net exporter of materials with respect to the rest of Spain, with a negative balance amounting to 7.5 million tons.

In relation to materials released into the environment after being used in the Catalan economy (processed domestic output), the main component was CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, which totalled 39.3 million tons, a figure equivalent to 4.9 tons per inhabitant.