Customs figures covering 2025 show that Italy was the European Union’s largest destination for extra-EU imports of products classified under existing Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) codes, with 17.6% of the value. The comparison covers products classified under those codes, and the total import value was 111.23 billion euros. Germany and the Netherlands each accounted for 12.7%.
Italy, Germany and the Netherlands together handled about 43% of the aggregate. Calculations based on the rounded shares indicate imports worth roughly 19.6 billion euros for Italy and about 14.1 billion euros each for Germany and the Netherlands. These are indicative estimates, not separate customs extracts.
Spain accounted for 7.8% of the bloc’s value, Belgium for 6.9%, France for 6.5%, Poland for 6.1% and Romania for 4.2%. The ranking includes products from exempt origins, which matters for markets buying substantial quantities of Scandinavian aluminium or electricity.
Italy’s position reflects its metals transformation, machinery, construction-materials and manufacturing ecosystems. Flat steel, steel structures, aluminium profiles and primary metal are priority products for industrial mapping there. Germany’s industrial demand spans steel processors, automotive manufacturing and mechanical engineering; automotive steel, advanced manufacturing and aluminium sheet are priority areas for attention.
The Netherlands’ share partly reflects port entry, storage, trading and the movement of goods to the European hinterland. Goods recorded as Dutch imports may be consumed by factories elsewhere in Europe. In Belgium, customs flows through Antwerp can supply industrial buyers in neighbouring countries; for both countries, the business question is which import houses, warehouses and distributors onward-supply EU industry.
The member state recording a physical import is not necessarily where the authorised CBAM declarant is established, and neither identifies automatically the factory that ultimately uses the material. Cross-border distribution can obscure the link between the customs-file holder and the manufacturer absorbing a purchase-price increase. Industrial mapping should start with trade corridors and trace materials through processors and contracts, since the largest customs market and the largest final-consumption market may differ.
CBAM-related costs create purchase-price increases and new costs for industrial supply chains, but the figures do not specify an amount.