What the EU actually pays for imported unwrought aluminium: the latest customs unit value in € per tonne, the tonnes moving in and out, the top non-EU origins, the duty that applies and the CBAM position.
Live · Eurostat COMEXT + ECBHS 7601Updated monthly, about a two-month lagUnit values are declared trade averages, not spot prices
Material decision brief · reviewed 4 Sep 2026Evidence confidence: limited
Aluminium: a sharply higher import average and a large Extra-EU deficit
The June 2026 unwrought-aluminium import unit value was €3,486/t, 39.9% above June 2025. Imports were 410,915 t and exceeded exports by 367,962 t. Norway, Canada and Iceland supplied 53.4% of recorded import value.
What changed
The customs average rose sharply year on year and the recorded value deficit reached €1.28 billion for the month.
What did not
This remains an HS 7601 customs average, not an LME quote plus physical premium. MatQuo has no material-specific producer-price series in this view and no longer applies the plastics PPI to aluminium.
What buyers should monitor
Alloy and form, LME-linked quote terms, physical premium, origin, CBAM treatment, freight and FX. Compare the complete landed basis.
Evidence for this brief
Source: Eurostat Comext, EU27 extra-EU trade, HS 7601, June 2026; ECB reference FX. Retrieved 4 September 2026. Confidence is limited because customs data cannot separate the exchange component, premium, alloy mix or contract timing. No cause is asserted.
Aluminium is the backbone metal of packaging, transport, construction and electrical goods — light, corrosion-resistant and endlessly recyclable — and Europe is a large net importer, so where it comes from and what it costs feeds straight into countless supply chains.
This page tracks the European Union's trade in unwrought (primary) aluminium — HS heading 7601 — with the rest of the world, live from official data: the import and export unit values in euros per tonne (declared customs trade averages, not the LME cash price), the tonnes and value moving in and out, the trade balance, the euro–dollar rate, and — crucially — which non-EU countries the EU actually buys its aluminium from. Below that you'll find the applicable EU import tariff on aluminium (including CBAM) and the customs HS/CN codes.
How this page is built. Every number above is fetched live in your browser from
Eurostat COMEXT (EU international trade in goods,
HS 7601) and the European Central Bank (euro reference rates).
The unit value is the declared customs value divided by the net mass — a trade average across every shipment in the
month, not a spot or contract quote; see how customs unit
values differ from market prices. COMEXT publishes with roughly a two-month lag and revises earlier months, so the
latest point can move. Duty rates are indicative and come from the European Commission's TARIC / Access2Markets;
confirm the legal rate before you trade on it.
Worked example — illustrative FOB quote to landed cost
Assume an illustrative supplier FOB quote of €2,450/t, excluding international freight and insurance. This is not the customs unit value above or a current supplier offer.
Eurostat import values are already CIF: do not add international freight and insurance again.
Add sea freight and insurance to a north-European port, say €80/t → CIF €2,530/t.
Apply the duty for the origin you are buying from — 3% unwrought not alloyed, 6% alloyed for origins with no EU trade agreement; 4.5% used here as a mid-point → €2,644/t. An FTA origin at 0% skips this step entirely, which is why the duty table by country matters as much as the price.
Where the EU sources its aluminium matters, because the applicable import tariff — and whether CBAM adds a carbon cost — depends on the country of origin. Explore individual suppliers:
The "unit value" is the declared trade value divided by the net mass — a customs-derived average price, not a live market, LME or contract quote. "Extra-EU" trade is trade with countries outside the EU. CBAM covers eligible 2026 imports; certificate purchasing begins in February 2027. All figures come from Eurostat's COMEXT database (EU international trade in goods) and the European Central Bank, reused under their free-reuse terms with attribution, and update monthly with roughly a two-month lag. MatQuo is an analytical tool, not investment advice. Commission timetable.
A lightweight iframe shows the latest available EU import customs unit value and up to twelve available monthly observations, with a dated fallback if the live source is unavailable.