The European Aluminium Industry: Growth, Recycling and Global Challenges
During ARABAL 2025, the leading event for the aluminium industry in the Middle East – hosted by EGA and organised by the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC) in collaboration with the region’s major producers – FACE Secretary General Mario Conserva presented the report “The European Aluminium Industry: Growth, Recycling and Global Challenges”.
Europe’s aluminium demand currently stands at around 8 million tonnes of primary aluminium per year, out of a total raw metal use of over 13.5 million tonnes (including recycled metal). However, in the past few years the EU has lost 65% of its internal primary production, now reduced to just 950,000 tonnes annually.
While recycling rates continue to rise, even in the most optimistic scenario, recycled aluminium could only meet about 60% of global demand by 2050, which is expected to increase by 40–50%. The conclusion is clear: recycling is essential, but it cannot replace the need for new low-carbon primary aluminium.
Even with the growth in production from EFTA countries (Norway and Iceland), which today supply about 2.2 million tonnes annually to the EU (roughly one-third of total imports), projections show that the EU will still face a primary aluminium deficit.
To build a truly circular and sustainable economy, Europe will inevitably need growing quantities of primary aluminium, preferably low-carbon. Restricting imports of green aluminium would be, as Conserva noted, a short-sighted and self-defeating choice, undermining both Europe’s industrial development and its green transition goals.
Full FACE analysis here.
