Eco NW - State of the region
Resource flows and impacts of production and consumption in the NW
Material flows
The North West region has a relatively low material input: both Regional Material Input (RMI) at 17.5 t/cap - and Regional Material Consumption (RMC) at 6.8 t/cap - are the lowest of any UK region. 1.2 tonnes / cap of 'energy carriers' are used, and the total demand for mining materials is third lowest in the UK at 4.9 tonnes/cap. Meanwhile, the region has the highest throughput of chemicals of all UK regions with 2.0 tonnes/cap, showing the dominance of the chemical and related process industries.
In terms of physical trade, the NW shows a typical regional profile, with the bulk of flows in intra-UK trade and much less in material exchanges with the rest of the world. With 133 million tonnes this shows the second highest physical exchange with other UK regions, equally driven by imports (51%) and exports (49%).
While the NW mainly imports quarrying materials, as well as wood or wood products, it predominantly exports food as well as pulp and paper products. Taking into account all trade with other regions and countries and subtracting imports from exports, the NW turns out to be one of five net importing regions with an import surplus of 10.2m tons.
