Material flows include material flows between a national economy and the natural environment, and these consist of the extraction of raw materials and other primary materials from and the discharge into the natural environment, as well as material flows between a national economy and the rest of the world (imports and exports).

In 2019, domestic extraction amounted to 122 687 thousand tonnes; compared to the previous year it increased by 7.1%. Observed by categories, the largest share in domestic extraction was noted for the categories of biomass (41 381 thousand tons) and fossil fuels (40 112 thousand tons).

In 2019, the total imports amounted to 19 991 thousand tonnes, which is by 7.5% higher when related to 2018. Categories with the largest share in imports were fossil fuels (37.6%) and metal ores (25.7%).

In 2019, the total exports noted the value of 16 053 thousand tonnes, which is by 12.0% more than in 2018. Biomass had the largest share in the total exports (49.6%), followed by metal ores (17.4%).

In 2019, domestic material consumption amounted to 126 625 thousand tons, which is by 6.5%more if compared to 2018.The greatest consumption related to the category of fossil fuels (45 958 thousand tons) and biomass (36 290 thousand tons). In 2019, domestic material consumption per capita amounted to 18.2 ton, i.e. it increased by 1.2 ton when compared to the previous year.

Resource productivity is the ratio between Gross domestic product (GDP) and domestic material consumption and in 2019, it amounted to 39.2 RSD per kilogram, which is by 2.15% less than in 2018,meaning that increase of material consumption was greater than GDP increase, when related to the previous year.