Aluminium foil import and export by UK drop YOY; focus on domestic deliveries

Aluminium foil characteristics are strength, formability and barrier properties which have made it an essential part of many flexible packaging and container applications along with its use in automotive and heat exchange components, insulation material and other industrial applications. UK as one of the leading economy consumes a large amount of aluminium foils.

{newsStudioGallery}

European flexible packaging market is expected to grow from $28.22 billion in 2016 to $ 41 billion by the end of 2021 at a CAGR of 7.76%. Germany is set to have the highest consumption, followed by the UK and Spain. 

As shown by our data, UK imported 1,11,313 tonnes of aluminium foils in 2015, which dropped down to total at 1,01,651 tonnes in 2016. The total value of import stood at USD 472 million and USD 263 million respectively.  For the first eleven months of 2017, the volume of foil import is forecasted to increase to total at 91,633 tonnes and the import value is estimated to be about USD 263 million.

In 2015, UK exported an estimated 16,489 tons of aluminium foil and the total revenue from export stood at USD 86 million. The export dropped further to total at 13,576 tonnes in 2016. The total revenue from export stood at USD 67million. For the first eleven months of 2017, the export volume of foil is forecasted to total at 14,878 tonnes and the revenue is estimated to be about USD 69 million.

{googleAdsense}

The top aluminium foil exporters to UK are Italy, China and Greece. The Chinese export is not only cheaper; they are also of good quality and can be easily customised to the client’s requirement.  This makes it convenient for end –users to import aluminium foils from China.

The trend shows a drop in import of aluminium foil in UK while indicating the shift towards consumption of domestically produced foils. The drop in import cost indicates an increase in cheap product import to the country. It is apparent that UK is still import dependent for its aluminium foil consumption. However, on a positive note, European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) recently reported strong performance from European aluminium foil rollers in H2 2016. Domestic deliveries recorded 1.5% increase from 2015 and exports performed better than expected.