The EU bought 30.34 billion euros of covered aluminium products from outside the bloc in 2025, indicating the scale of trade relevant to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), not purchases by named carmakers or aerospace groups. Cost exposure for aviation and automotive manufacturers can arise several stages removed from a smelter, as metal is rolled, heat-treated and finished before reaching a components supplier and being incorporated into an aircraft or car.
CBAM applies to specific imports, and the importer must apply the relevant calculation rules to the product actually entered into the Union. How intermediaries document material, allocate costs and negotiate prices can affect the economic impact along the supply chain. Emissions profiles differ substantially between primary aluminium made using fossil-intensive power, primary metal made with lower-carbon electricity and aluminium with high recycled content. A downstream buyer using recycled material should not assume it is outside scope if the imported product itself is listed in Annex I.
Disclosed industrial relationships show links between processors and end users, but not the origin of particular consignments. Novelis describes its rolling and recycling operation in Nachterstedt, Germany, as serving the automotive and beverage-packaging industries; its sustainability reporting documents a recycling partnership with Volkswagen. Constellium has disclosed aluminium supply relationships with Airbus. Those publicly identified connections do not prove that specific consignments from foreign smelters reached Volkswagen or Airbus.
Assessing exposure requires mapping the documented supply chain, including the processor, factory, product and customer, whether imported raw materials were used and the available pricing terms. Long-term industrial supply agreements may complicate price changes. A processor with little ability to reprice a multi-year agreement may find even a small increase in input costs economically important.
Aerospace customers value qualification, traceability and reliability, while automotive buyers often use annual purchasing rounds and enforce strict technical standards. Documented emissions advantages could support a differentiated offer to buyers with their own decarbonisation targets. Establishing who bears the costs therefore depends on detailed evidence about supply origins, emissions and commercial terms, rather than a disclosed customer relationship alone.