France’s aluminium scrap exports to record a YoY drop of 1.76% in 2020, but revenue to rise by 2.56%

After three years of back-to-back rise, the aluminium scrap exports from France are estimated to see a slight downfall in 2020, found the international trade data. From 533,972 tonnes in 2019, the export amount is likely to dip by 1.76 per cent to 524,574 tonnes. In 2018, France’s aluminium scrap exports were 497,771 tonnes after growing by 7 per cent from 465,461 tonnes in 2017. The data indicate that France’s aluminium scrap exports in 2019 saw a rise of 7.27 per cent.

But despite the estimated de-growth in the export amount in 2020, France is expected to yield more revenue than the previous year. Compared to US$429 million in 2019, France is likely to generate US$440 million this year from its aluminium scrap exports, up 2.56 per cent. 2019 had seen a growth of 4.37 per cent in France’s aluminium scrap exports from 497,771 tonnes in 2018, while the latter saw an increase of 6.4 per cent from US$386 million in 2017.

More than half of all the aluminium currently produced in the European Union (EU-25) originates from recycled raw materials and that trend is on the increase. Given the growing end-user demand and a lack of sufficient domestic primary aluminium production in this part of the world, Europe has a huge stake in maximising the collection of all available aluminium and developing the most resource-efficient scrap treatments and melting processes.

France, being one of the key growth markets in the European aluminium industry, generates a substantial amount of scrap every year, with packaging, building, and automobile sectors driving the aluminium consumption in the country.

Italy, Spain, and Belgium are expected to be the three large aluminium scrap importers from France. Italy is estimated to secure 121,269 tonnes of scrap at US$110 million, Spain 107,602 tonnes at US$58 million, and Belgium 89,082 tonnes at US$37 million, as per the available data.