At about 2.1 million tonnes in 2012, EU’s production of primary aluminium has been stable during the last three decade but it has been reduced by 19% from 2011 to 2012. On an increasing trend since the 1980’s, the production of recycled (remelt and refined) aluminium in the EU reached about 4.1 million tonnes in 2012 (f).

However, as the downstream production has constantly increased, and has recovered faster after the crisis, the import dependence of the EU aluminium industry has passed from roughly 35% to 50% (about 5.4 million tonnes imported in 2012 (f)).