European Union imports of Serbian iron and steel were worth about €567 million in 2025, while aluminium imports reached about €448 million. The figures show substantial trade between Serbia and the EU, but customs data generally do not identify the factories that used the metal or the companies that ultimately bore Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) costs. They also do not establish direct supplies to named manufacturers.
Poland, Czechia and Hungary were the leading EU markets for Serbian iron and steel under HS72, according to European customs data. For Serbian aluminium products under HS76, Germany, Slovenia and France led direct imports. These country and product totals can help identify trade routes for CBAM screening, but do not show where the material was ultimately used.
A shipment recorded as entering the EU through Poland, for example, could later be used in a German vehicle, a Czech machine tool or a Hungarian industrial building. European industrial demand can support Serbian exports even when customs records show no direct transaction between a Serbian mill and the final equipment maker.
Processing can obscure where metal is used
The supply chain typically involves four separate actors: a Serbian producer, an EU importer or indirect customs representative, a European processor and a final manufacturer. The importer clears the material and assumes legal responsibilities under CBAM, while the processor may roll, cut, press, extrude or fabricate it before it is used in a vehicle, machine, building or package. One corporate group may take on several of these roles, but each link needs to be documented separately.
For flat steel products, the immediate EU counterparty may be a service centre that controls inventory and processing. A coil may then undergo slitting, cold reduction, galvanising and stamping before reaching a component producer or vehicle assembly plant. Serbian rolled aluminium sheet can likewise receive further finishing or be used in packaging production and European fabrication.
Customs data identify the country of entry and product category, not each processing step or the final customer. Claims that Serbian metal directly supplies particular European carmakers therefore require traceable transactions, rather than an inference from trade totals. Impol Seval, a rolled-aluminium producer based in Sevojno, reported export revenues of roughly €89.7 million for the first half of 2025.
The company’s public report named Germany, Italy and France as important markets. This disclosure shows Impol Seval’s export orientation, but does not name the end users of individual sheets or strips or establish supplies to a particular automotive or aerospace manufacturer.
Contracts determine who bears CBAM costs
The party legally responsible for CBAM certificates may not be the one that ultimately pays the cost. An importer could be responsible for the certificates and pass the expense to a distributor, which could then raise prices for a fabricator or final manufacturer. Alternatively, a large industrial buyer could require the Serbian supplier to absorb the cost through a lower ex-works price.
Without contractual evidence, identifying an ultimate purchaser would not establish who bears the expense. A reliable register of companies benefiting from Serbian metal exports would require more than an HS-code spreadsheet. Where lawfully accessible, it could draw on importer EORI and legal-name records, purchase orders, delivery terms, distribution agreements, factory receiving records and customer acceptance documents.
Tracking would also require preserving the material’s identity and originating installation through processing. Business links should be classified as confirmed by a primary document, disclosed through a corporate relationship or representing only a plausible downstream application, rather than treated as equivalent evidence. A next-stage map could start with product-specific flows into Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Germany and Slovenia, then trace named processors only where independent records permit attribution.
The customs figures establish the scale and routes of trade, but do not identify final factories or determine how CBAM costs are divided among suppliers, importers and manufacturers.
Elevated by CBAM by Clarion Engineer