EU member states imported electricity worth €1,150.3 million from Serbia in 2025, while three flat-steel product families accounted for more than €500 million, according to 2025 trade statistics. The figures identify commercially important flows for businesses preparing for the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), but broad customs categories do not establish which goods are covered or what emissions obligations apply.
Electricity value does not measure emissions
Electricity traded from Serbia to EU member states is classified under HS271600 and EU CN 2716 00 00. The 2025 imports totalled 9.84 terawatt-hours and were valued at $1.30 billion, equivalent to €1,150.3 million. CBAM measures electricity in megawatt-hours, so its customs value cannot be directly compared with steel or aluminium tonnage to assess embedded emissions.
Steel and aluminium flows offer screening signals
EU imports from Serbia under HS7208, covering hot-rolled non-alloy flat steel, were valued at $384.23 million in 2025, equivalent to about €340 million using the annual 2025 euro-dollar average. Coated or plated flat steel under HS7210 was worth approximately €109.3 million, while cold-rolled flat steel under HS7209 was worth approximately €55.4 million. Together, the three flat-steel families represented more than €500 million of reported EU imports, making shipment-level carbon-data work a priority for businesses trading these products.
Aluminium trade covered processed and fabricated goods as well as primary materials. EU imports included plate, sheet and strip under HS7606 worth approximately €148.7 million, and containers and similar packaging under HS7612 worth approximately €78.6 million. Other aluminium articles under HS7616 were worth about €62 million; structures under HS7610 were worth roughly €44 million; and bars and profiles under HS7604 were worth approximately €41.4 million.
These HS product-family values can help companies decide where to begin screening, but they are not a CBAM tariff list. Coverage depends on the exact eight-digit EU Combined Nomenclature (CN) description in Annex I. Some fabricated products in Chapter 73 or Chapter 76 are covered even though they may appear less like primary materials. In contrast, ferrous scrap trade under HS7204 was around €22 million in 2025 and aluminium scrap under HS7602 was approximately €35 million; both are outside the initial CBAM product list.
Importers need product-level emissions records
Importers cannot calculate CBAM certificate obligations by multiplying a chapter’s total customs value by an emissions price. Charges depend on embedded emissions, applicable adjustments, carbon prices recognised as already paid in the country of origin and the phase-out of EU free allowances. Broad HS headings therefore do not show which imported shipments are covered or the emissions data relevant to them.
A commercial data extract for CBAM work should combine value with quantities, origin, producing installation, customs procedure, reporting importer and CN8 classification. Companies operating through distributors face particular urgency in reconciling product classifications and emissions data. A Serbian steel producer may issue a plant-level report for a coil, but the EU importer needs a defensible allocation of emissions to the exact product classification and imported quantity.
For downstream steel articles, precursor-material requirements and process boundaries add detail; a generic certificate describing a company’s average footprint is not sufficient by itself. The immediate business priority is a reconciled CN8 register, rather than another sector ranking. It should start with EU member-state import data where origin is Serbia, restrict 2025 flows to each legally applicable CN8 code and remove non-covered goods. Until that extraction is complete, broad HS4-family figures remain screening proxies, not a complete audited CN8 CBAM import ledger.
Elevated by CBAM.Clarion Engineer