EU delays aluminum scrap trade curbs, as Dubai's exports pause

While the UAE moves to ban ferrous and non-ferrous scrap exports from its major export gateway, the EU aluminum scrap export curb is delayed by two months.

The European Commission had originally indicated that targeted measures restricting aluminum scrap export would be proposed by the end of the April-June quarter, but the measure is now expected in September, European Aluminium told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.

"We understand that work is ongoing to design a measure that is legally robust, effective and proportionate," said Kelly Roegies, a spokesperson for the Brussels-based trade association representing Europe's entire aluminum value chain.

"While we would have preferred a faster timeline, a short delay does not change the bigger picture: this is a structural issue that Europe needs to solve for the coming years," she said, adding that European Aluminium appreciates that the Commission is committed to addressing aluminium scrap leakage, especially as the issue is getting worse.

In 2025, EU exports of aluminium scrap reached a historic record of almost 1.3 million metric tons, according to the association, and data for 2026 indicate a further increase of 3% year-to-date as of April, including significant increases towards India (up by 8%), China (12%) and Hong Kong (15%).

These flows are placing growing pressure on Europe's recyclers and undermining the feedstock security needed to support Europe's low-carbon aluminum production.

Roegies said European Aluminium will not speculate on the design of the pending export regulation, but specified that its objective is to ensure sufficient scrap quantities remain available for the European industry, rather than to stop all scrap export, especially given that recycled metal already supplies around 40% of Europe's aluminum demand.

In the week ending June 26, access to domestically raised scrap has been reiterated as strategic in the UAE, when the government of Dubai moved to ban exports of steel, copper, and aluminum scrap until October 8, saying that exemptions could be considered for shipments contracted "prior to the issuance of the prohibition," and for shipments considered "appropriate to exempt in the public interest."

Rerouting, exemptions to dilute effectiveness

"The logic is the same across all three metals. According to the Bureau of Middle East Recycling, the ban appears to have been imposed under pressure from local smelters seeking to retain feedstock for their own use," Fadwa Aouini, metals and mining analyst at Middle East North Africa-focused equity research company AlphaMena, told Platts.

Ferrous scrap export restriction will benefit UAE's sole crude steel producer Emirates Steel. The country is not known for any copper smelting operation, but is in the process of getting one, with local industrial venture ESNAA establishing the GCC's first integrated copper and precious-metals refining complex to produce LME-grade copper cathodes, according to its website. And the UAE's aluminum scrap requirements are already growing substantially as Emirates Global Aluminium is ramping up its new 185,000 mt/year recycling plant.

Asked why the export ban was issued only by Dubai, the analyst said it is a structural quirk of the UAE's federal system. "Dubai Customs can issue its own trade notices independently of a federal ban, and since Dubai dominates UAE scrap trade, so the restriction carries weight even without being federal, although in principle, scrap can still leave through Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or Fujairah ports, and between the exemption pathway and potential rerouting, the policy's effect on actual export volumes is likely partial," Aouini said of practical implications.

A lot of trade is happening via the Jebel Ali Port, which is why the ban is applied in Dubai, another analyst, Anoop M. Fernandes, SICO Bank vice president for research, made similar reasoning.

Challenges in importing raw materials, scrap

Regulations on scrap trade in the GCC region make sense, given major challenges in importing raw materials for primary metal production, be it alumina or iron ore, according to Fernandes

"Secondary production becomes the obvious area of focus, also because shipping costs and insurance are making scrap imports very expensive," said the analyst, explaining that metal scrap is typically imported in containers, and the lack of homogeneity in its form makes it volumetrically inefficient in terms of absorbing high shipping/insurance costs.

So together, the fact that the Strait of Hormuz presents lots of challenges and the volumetric inefficiency of scrap imported in containers make it imperative to ensure that scrap is retained within the country and leakage is prevented to the extent possible," Fernandes said on the Dubai temporary export moratorium for scrap of key metals.