Raw material is the substance with which the most varied goods are manufactured. It is a natural or processed product used as a basis in the production process of industries.
The raw material can be from vegetable origin (for example, cocoa, raw material for the manufacture of chocolate), animal (the leather of cattle, goats or other animals, with which shoes, bags, etc. are made.) or mineral (bauxite, from which the aluminum used to manufacture doors, windows, planes, etc.) is extracted.
In addition to natural raw materials, there are processed raw materials, that is, those used no longer in their natural state, but already industrialized or modified. This is the case, for example, of the paper (processed raw material), obtained from cellulose (natural raw material), extracted from vegetables such as eucalyptus, which is used by the printing industry for the most varied purposes.
The set of productive activities of industries transform raw materials, which go through all processes products, where they are transformed into goods that reach the final distribution stage, the so-called Value Chain Business.
There are countries that are great exporters of raw materials, have cheap labor and do not have an industrial park to absorb production. There are other developed, industrialized countries that have technological resources to explore and industrialize them. These countries form multinational or transnational companies, which lead the commercialization of various products. Truste is the merger of several companies, with the aim of mastering certain product or service offerings.
Raw material, industries, and the use of labor throughout the world, lead to a division of activities among countless countries and is called the International Division of Labor (DIT).
See too: asbestos.