Raw material

For other uses, see Raw Material (disambiguation).

"Feedstock" redirects here.

File:DEFORASTATION RAIN FOREST RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL.JPG

Deforestation of native rain forest in Rio de Janeiro City for extraction of clay a raw material for civil engineering (2009 picture).

A raw material or feedstock is something that is acted upon or used by or by human labor or industry, for use as a building material to create some product or structure. Often the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Iron ore, logs, and crude oil, would be examples. A non-human related raw material would include twigs and found objects as used by birds to make nests.

In Marxian economics and some industries, the term is used in a distinct sense: raw material is a 'subject of labor', something that will be worked on by labor that has already undergone some alteration by labour. In other words it does not apply to materials in their entirely unprocessed state. Some examples are dimensional lumber, glass and steel.

See also

• Material
• Biomaterial
• Commodity
• List of building materials
• Materials science
• Recycling
• Upcycling
• Downcycling

References

• Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part III, Chap. 7.ar:مادة خام