Aluminium sector: ‘We need 30% duties on exported scrap’

The aluminium sector in Europe has added its voice to those calling for duties on the export of scrap metal from the EU.

According to the European Aluminium (EA), aluminium scrap exports were at a record 1.26 million tonnes in 2024, around 50% higher than five years earlier, with most heading to Asia.

According to Reuters, EA is urging the European Commission to impose duties of around 30% on exports of scrap metal. After meeting officials in Brussels, EA’s director general Paul Voss told the agency that European companies were finding it impossible to compete with buyers in Asia who can pay higher prices due to subsidies and lower labour and environmental standards.

‘It’s perfectly understandable that scrap traders prefer to sell to the highest bidder but it’s the role of public policy to correct these kinds of market failures in order to protect Europe’s strategic interests,’ he said.

‘Critical situation’

According to the EA, which represents the European aluminium value chain, approximately 40% (around five million tonnes) of the EU’s consumption of the metal comes from recycling. The current installed recycling furnace capacity in the EU stands at 12 million tonnes but around 15% is idled due to the lack of scrap availability.

‘While the industry is expected to face a 30% increase in demand by 2040, half of the EU’s primary aluminium-producing plants shut down in 2022 and 2023 in response to surging electricity prices and the lack of supportive EU policies to ensure access to affordable and decarbonised electricity,’ a press release argued.

‘The European aluminium recycling value chain is facing a critical situation, which is vastly amplified by the recent doubling of US Section 232 tariffs to 50%. By excluding scrap, the measure has widened an existing arbitrage that encourages scrap exports, making the US an unfairly favourable export destination.’

‘This imbalance has already led to a sharp surge in scrap outflows: from January to June 2025, exports to the US rose by almost 200% compared to the same period last year.’

EA points out that the arbitrage affects not only the EU-US trade of aluminium scrap but also the global market. Asian buyers who used to rely on sourcing scrap from the US will turn their attention to the EU.

Support for steel

Meanwhile, the European Steel Association (Eurofer) welcomed the State of the Union Address delivered by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 10 September in which she said the Commission would ‘propose a new, long-term trade instrument to succeed the expiring steel safeguards’.

Eurofer director general Axel Eggert said the industry faced global overcapacity, unfair trade practices, high energy prices, scarcity of strategic raw materials such as scrap and the massive investment challenge of decarbonisation.

‘Her promise of proposals supporting the transition efforts of the European industry, from lead markets for green products made in Europe to action on trade, circular economy and energy, is encouraging. As President von der Leyen rightly pointed out, we need a robust successor to the steel safeguards to prevent our market from collapsing under a flood of cheap, high-carbon imports.’

The Commission began monitoring metal exports in July and will use the data until the end of September to assess whether action is necessary.