EU Aluminium Scrap Exports Tracker (HS 7602)
EU27 aluminium scrap exports outside the EU, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026, from Eurostat: 1.31 Mt, India 30.6%, 77% to non-OECD countries, value per tonne up 12%.
Contents 7
Europe's aluminium scrap exports are the subject of a running argument about whether scrap should stay in Europe for its own remelters. Whatever view you take, the argument needs facts: how much leaves, where it goes, what kind of material it is and what it is worth. This tracker answers those questions from Eurostat's trade database, pulled on 8 October 2026, for the twelve months to July 2026, and sets them against the EU's export rules that apply from May 2027.
In short
- EU27 countries exported 1.31 million tonnes of aluminium waste and scrap (HS 7602, the customs heading for aluminium scrap) outside the EU between August 2025 and July 2026, 5.3% more than a year earlier. Declared value rose 18.1% to EUR 2.65 billion.
- India was the largest destination at 30.6%, followed by Thailand (11.8%), China (9.7%), Hong Kong (8.7%) and Pakistan (7.9%). China and Hong Kong together took 18.4%.
- 77.1% of extra-EU tonnage went to countries outside the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of mostly high-income countries), the part of the trade the EU's 2027 export rules will decide.
- Average declared value rose from EUR 1,806 to EUR 2,027 per tonne (+12.2%), and to EUR 2,360 in July 2026.
- Most of the tonnage (59.0%) was declared as aluminium scrap (7602 00 90); turnings and thin foil (7602 00 11) grew fastest, up 26.1%.
- Exports outside the EU were 29.5% of all EU27 aluminium scrap exports; shipments between Member States fell 7.6% to 3.12 million tonnes.
Destinations
| Rank | Destination | Tonnes | Share | Share a year earlier | Change in tonnes | Declared EUR per tonne |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 399,244 | 30.6% | 29.3% | +9.7% | 1,988 |
| 2 | Thailand | 153,596 | 11.8% | 12.7% | minus 2.4% | 2,074 |
| 3 | China | 127,073 | 9.7% | 7.7% | +33.0% | 1,992 |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 113,070 | 8.7% | 7.6% | +20.3% | 2,157 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 103,644 | 7.9% | 8.2% | +1.4% | 1,418 |
| 6 | Türkiye | 90,769 | 7.0% | 6.8% | +8.3% | 2,006 |
| 7 | Norway | 60,052 | 4.6% | 3.8% | +27.0% | 2,071 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 48,078 | 3.7% | 3.9% | minus 0.9% | 2,252 |
| 9 | United Kingdom | 42,874 | 3.3% | 3.5% | minus 1.9% | 2,022 |
| 10 | Malaysia | 28,832 | 2.2% | 4.3% | minus 46.2% | 1,966 |
The top five took 68.7% of extra-EU tonnage and the top ten 89.4%. Exports outside the EU were 29.5% of all EU27 aluminium scrap exports; the rest (3.12 million tonnes, down 7.6%) moved between Member States.
What Changed
China (+33.0%) and Hong Kong (+20.3%) grew fastest among the large destinations, adding about 50,600 tonnes between them. India added 35,400 tonnes. Malaysia almost halved. Among smaller destinations, Japan rose 76.3% to 16,484 tonnes; the United States fell 13.9% to 14,386 tonnes, or 1.1% of the total.
What Kind of Material
Eurostat splits heading 7602 into three CN8 codes. For extra-EU exports over the twelve months:
| CN8 code | What it covers | Tonnes | Share | Change | EUR per tonne |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7602 00 90 | Aluminium scrap | 770,326 | 59.0% | +6.4% | 1,988 |
| 7602 00 19 | Other aluminium waste, including faulty workpieces | 407,352 | 31.2% | minus 1.8% | 2,049 |
| 7602 00 11 | Turnings, shavings, chips and filings; thin coloured, coated or bonded foil | 127,827 | 9.8% | +26.1% | 2,188 |
The three codes have similar average values, which tells you each contains a wide range of grades; see our guide to aluminium scrap grades for why grade spreads are large within a code, and scrap metal HS codes for the code definitions.
Value
Declared value per tonne stayed between about EUR 1,700 and EUR 1,910 a month from August 2024 to December 2025, then rose sharply in 2026: from EUR 1,739 in August 2025 to EUR 2,360 in July 2026, an increase of 35.7%. For context, the US producer price index for aluminium base scrap rose 30.6% in the year to August 2026 (preliminary). Unit values are affected by mix and delivery terms; they show direction, not price.
Exposure to the 2027 Rules
From 21 May 2027, EU exports of green-listed waste for recovery to non-OECD countries are prohibited unless the Commission lists the destination for that waste (Article 40 of Regulation 2024/1157). The list is due by 21 November 2026. Of the 1.31 million tonnes exported outside the EU in the latest twelve months, 1.01 million tonnes (77.1%) went to non-OECD destinations, led by India, Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Pakistan. For ferrous scrap the equivalent share is 30.2% (see EU27 ferrous scrap exports). For aluminium, the list will decide where most of today's exports can go. Our guide to the EU Waste Shipment Regulation explains the rules.
Policy debate about wider EU measures on aluminium scrap exports is reported in trade press. We have not verified a Commission proposal on a primary source, so this tracker reports flows only. It will add any measure once the primary text is published.
Method and Reuse
- Source: Eurostat Comext dataset DS-045409, API queried 8 October 2026 without a key; dataset last updated 15 September 2026; latest month July 2026.
- Queries: reporter EU27_2020, product 7602 (all partners) and CN8 76020011, 76020019, 76020090 (partner EXT_EU27_2020), flow export, monthly, August 2024 to July 2026. We publish the exact queries and the extracts with the note.
- Processing: extra-EU totals from the EXT_EU27_2020 aggregate; shares against that aggregate; OECD grouping by ScrapBasin; quantity in 100 kg divided by 10 for tonnes.
- Attribution: Source: Eurostat, Comext DS-045409, accessed 8 October 2026. Calculations by ScrapBasin; Eurostat does not endorse this analysis.
- Reuse: Eurostat data are reused under the Eurostat copyright notice (CC BY 4.0; Commission Decision 2011/833/EU), with the source acknowledged. All figures are as declared by the EU27. Eurostat's notice excludes commercial reuse of data for countries outside the EU, EFTA and the acceding and candidate countries; we treat EU-declared exports to such partners as EU data, but check the notice before reusing partner detail commercially.
The tracker updates monthly after each Comext release, and on the day the Article 41 list is adopted.
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The October 2026 data note sets EU and UK scrap flows alongside US scrap price indexes. The sample issue is free.
Read the free October 2026 data note
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Indicative information, not a price offer. ScrapBasin is an information service. It does not buy, sell or broker scrap.
Sources (checked 8 October 2026): Eurostat Comext DS-045409, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/international-trade-in-goods/database (Source: Eurostat, accessed 8 October 2026); Eurostat copyright notice, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/help/copyright-notice; Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1157/oj; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics PPI WPU102302 via FRED, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU102302.
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