By Philip Blenkinsop and Julia Payne
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Metal producers in the European Union are lobbying the bloc to impose export duties or curbs on scrap metal shipments “in the next few weeks” to stem a sharp increase in flows to the United States caused by the Trump administration’s trade policies.
Europe’s metal producers are warning of a shortage of scrap and an upending of carbon-emission strategies after U.S. Donald Trump’s 50% levy on imported steel and aluminium heightened demand, and sharply inflated prices, for tariff-free scrap.
The aluminium industry is asking the EU to stem outflows using export authorisation measures, hitherto only used during the COVID pandemic, when the European Commission demanded companies request permission to export protective gear and vaccine doses. Export tariffs would be another option.
“Scrap is a big issue,” said Eurofer director general Axel Eggert. “We are asking for an export duty on scrap,” he said highlighting that most non-EU producer countries had restrictions in place.
Scrap is integral to the EU’s push to reduce carbon emissions in the metal industry. Recycling saves up to 95% of the energy required for aluminium production and 80% for steel, the European Commission has said.
Scrap metal exports to the United States nearly tripled to 6,028 metric tonnes in the first three months of 2025 versus the same period a year earlier, albeit from a low base, turning a trickle into a flood, said industry lobby group Europe Aluminium, which includes Alcoa, Befesa and AMAG Austria.
Total EU aluminium scrap exports were 345,000 metric tonnes in the first quarter this year, according to Europe Aluminium. With the United States now keeping its scrap, the EU will be left as the main exporting region, it said.
Scrap exports were a growing problem for EU metal producers even before Trump imposed duties on imports of primary steel and aluminium in a bid to encourage U.S. domestic production, EU metal producers said.
A record 19 million tonnes of ferrous scrap left the bloc in 2023, the majority to Turkey, but also to India, Egypt, Pakistan and the United States, said European steel association Eurofer, which includes Tata Steel, Thyssenkrupp and ArcelorMittal.
Metal producers cannot wait for the bloc to strike a trade deal with Trump before taking action, Europe Aluminium’s head Paul Voss said. European officials have said the EU may not be able to strike a full deal by Trump’s July 9 deadline.
Export authorisations had not been used this way before “but extraordinary times call for extraordinary action,” Voss added, calling for measures “in the coming weeks”.
CARBON FOOTPRINT
The EU sees itself as a champion of free trade and export curbs are rare. Beyond pandemic restrictions, EU export controls have been limited to shipments of arms, products that have military uses and for countries subject to sanctions.
The European Commission said it was engaging regularly with metal producers and recyclers, assessing the market situation.
It said it would determine in the third quarter whether a trade measure was necessary for steel, aluminium and copper.
The tariffs have given U.S. metal producers incentive to maximise their domestic purchase of scrap metal and scour overseas markets. Industry players said a so-called “arbitrage window” – a short-lived price gap between two markets – had hit around $750 per tonne with the 50% tariff.
“If that arbitrage window stays, we will see massive damage to companies that invested the most into the Green Deal,” Rob van Gils, CEO of Austria’s Hammerer Aluminium Industries, said, referring to the EU’s green policy agenda to steer the bloc to carbon emission neutrality by 2050.
Van Gils said companies which rely on buying scrap would struggle if local scrap costs neared or even exceeded the market price of final product, or end up buying primary metal from third countries like India with high carbon footprints.
“The CO2 footprint of the aluminium industry will be down the toilet,” van Gils continued.
Europe’s scrap sellers oppose export restrictions. Recycling industry group EuRIC said there was no shortage of scrap in Europe and that EU demand only absorbed some 80% of supply for steel.
Eurofer’s Eggert said export restrictions would help prevent rival producers overseas from buying EU scrap to then sell low-carbon recycled steel back to the bloc.
“We are not asking for a ban, but we need to retain more scrap, or incentivise its use scrap in Europe for our decarbonisation,” he said.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Julia Payne; editing by Richard Lough and David Evans)
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