The Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA) describes the physical interaction of the economy with the natural environment and the flows of materials between the Faroese economy and the rest of the world economy.

The data provides an overview of the amounts of various materials that are extracted from the environment, imported for use in the Faroe Islands or exported

Material flows:

• Faroese material consumption is materials extracted from the Faroese environment. The largest quantities come from sea fish and stone from quarries. Also included in the data are estimated figures for cultivated vegetables, straw and grazed biomass.
• Imports and exports are listed as the total imports and exports in tonnes. All goods are classified according to their main constituent material – e.g. cars are classified as “2.3. Other metal products”.
• Direct material input is materials entering the Faroese economy either directly from the Faroese environment or as imported materials.
• Domestic material consumption is the materials entering the economy (direct material input) minus the materials exported from the economy.
• The physical trade balance is imported materials minus exported materials.

Materials are classified according to the following main categoriesr:

• Biomass: biological materials such as fish, grass, vegetables, timber, etc.
• Metallic minerals: materials with primarily metallic elements such as machines, cars, bicycles, etc.
• Non-metallic minerals: materials such as stone, sand, concrete, etc.
• Fossil energy: fuel oil, petrol, etc.
• Other products: miscellaneous materials
• Waste

Read more about domestic material consumption indicators for the Faroe Islands and other countries on the SDG page.