Raw material
For other uses, see Raw material (disambiguation).
Anthracite coal stockpile at the shipping area of a mid-slope coal processing plant. The road leading up beyond the stockpile leads down from a Mountain top strip mine which sources the materials.
Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree
A raw material or feedstock is basic material used in the production of goods, energy, finished products or intermediate materials that are themselves feedstock for finished products. As feedstock, the term connotes it is a bottleneck asset critical to the production of other products. For example, crude oil is a feedstock raw material providing finished products in the fuel, plastic, industrial chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
The term "raw material" is used to denote material is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state; e.g., raw latex, coal, raw biomass, iron ore, logs, crude oil, air or seawater. The use of raw material by non-human species includes twigs and found objects as used by birds to make nests.
See also
- Bulk cargo
- Bulk materials
- Bulk liquids
- Biomaterial
- Commodity
- Downcycling
- List of building materials
- Marginal factor cost
- Materials science
- Recycling
- Upcycling