MPA has published the 4th edition of its review of the Mineral Products industry. This review celebrates the diversity of the industry and highlights its essential role as an enabling industry for others to thrive on. The industry supplies the raw and manufactured materials for building our homes, as well as vital new and upgraded infrastructure to support future economic growth and our quality of life.

The profile provides industry stakeholders with a unique source of information and metrics to illustrate the way we produce and consume our minerals and the manufactured products derived from them. As Government reduces support for data collection and consolidation relating to minerals, this review helps fill the gap.

Presenting detailed analysis of the latest data for each of its products, the review highlights the significant turnover contribution of £18bn the industry made to the UK economy in 2016. It employed 74,000 people at over 2,000 active sites and plants and supported an additional 3.5 million jobs throughout the supply chain.

Key statistics (2016) from the review include:

• 390 Mt - GB production of aggregates and manufactured mineral products
• 4 times - The volume of energy minerals produced in the UK, including oil, gas and coal
• £18bn - Annual turnover for the Mineral Products industry
• £6.8bn - Gross value added generated by the industry
• £513bn - Annual turnover of the industries we supply
• £152bn - Value of construction, our main customer
• 74,000 - People employed in the industry
• 3.5m - Jobs supported in our supply chain

Download our review ‘Profile of the UK Mineral Products Industry - Edition 2018’ here and the supporting data here.

This review confirms the scale and importance of the Mineral Products industry. With around 390 million tonnes (Mt) of aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete and other mineral products supplied in Great Britain in 2016, the industry generates over 4 times the total volume of all energy minerals combined.

Further headlines include:

• The UK Mineral Products industry is a highly productive industry: each worker produced about £92,000 in 2016, equivalent to 1.7 times the national average.
• In 2017, primary aggregates sales totalled 133Mt in England, 17Mt in Wales, 29Mt in Scotland, and 24Mt in Northern Ireland.
• Further growth in housebuilding and the planned delivery in infrastructure projects over the next 2-3 years should support further growth in mineral and mineral product demand.
• Recycled & secondary materials accounted for 29% of the GB aggregates market in 2016, putting the country at the forefront of the circular economy.
• The UK cement industry is a world leader in carbon reduction, having reduced its direct CO2 emissions by 25% between 1998 and 2016.

Commenting, MPA’s Chief Executive, Nigel Jackson said:

“The Mineral Products industry works hard to provide essential and economically, socially and environmentally sustainable materials to build our economy and improve our quality of life. Current infrastructure and housing development are directly dependent on these products. This review provides a wealth of detail about mineral products that everyone in the UK needs, but too few understand. It helps to make the link between quarries, rail freight, wharves and added value operations and their use. Hopefully this updated review will help raise awareness of our sector’s essentiality to the economy and the UK.”

Ends.