The European Union imported 30.34 billion euros of covered aluminium products in 2025, equivalent to about 9.14 million tonnes, but the total does not show how much will require Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) certificates. Imports from countries exempt from CBAM form part of the volume, making the total an incomplete measure of European buyers’ potential certificate exposure.
Norway supplied 1.55 million tonnes and Iceland 821,000 tonnes, making them the largest and second-largest suppliers by mass despite their exemptions. Türkiye was the next major origin, supplying 684,000 tonnes. The figures cover products entering the EU from non-EU origins.
Installation data shape supplier comparisons
For aluminium, the currently chargeable carbon component is determined by smelter process emissions and precursor treatment. Importers comparing suppliers that are not exempt need installation-level evidence, rather than assumptions based only on the country of supply. The origin alone does not establish the emissions relevant to an importer’s obligations.
Purchased electricity affects a company’s wider emissions performance, but indirect electricity emissions are not included in the current aluminium certificate calculation. A general guarantee of renewable electricity therefore does not by itself establish the CBAM emissions calculation for an imported good. Suppliers making low-carbon claims should identify the smelter and relevant precursors and provide verified direct-emissions information, keeping broader electricity-footprint claims separate.
Product classification and production history determine the applicable emissions boundaries. Unwrought aluminium under CN 7601 is a core product category, while articles and semi-finished forms have their own product codes and emissions boundaries.
Processors weigh compliance costs and purchasing terms
Rolling mills, foundries and extruders are often the first European businesses to use imported aluminium, transforming ingots, billets or slabs into sheet, profiles, castings or components. Their downstream customers include vehicle plants, packaging manufacturers, electrical equipment businesses and construction-product suppliers.
An intermediate processor may import aluminium and assume the CBAM obligation itself, or buy from a distributor that already carries the associated compliance cost. Who carries the cost affects purchasing leverage and the information available to the processor. The free-allocation adjustment for European processors is set to diminish through 2034, which may make lower-emissions aluminium more attractive.
The commercial outcome also depends on premiums, freight, scrap use, recycling capacity and customer demand. A competitive position depends on comparing delivered cost and carbon performance at product level and maintaining defensible documentation from the metal producer to the industrial customer.