Italy ranked first among EU member states for declared imports of existing CBAM-code goods in 2025, accounting for 17.6% of the bloc’s extra-EU total. Published figures put that total at €111.23 billion, making Italy’s share roughly €19.6 billion when calculated using the rounded percentage. The customs value covers a wide range of materials and includes imports from exempt origins, so it is not a direct estimate of Italy’s CBAM certificate bill. The ranking makes Italy a primary research target, but does not establish that every major Italian industrial group is a CBAM declarant.
Imports move through regional supply chains
Northern Italy’s engineering, appliances, machinery, automotive components, building-products and metals-processing industries provide several routes for imports to reach final users. The industrial corridors of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, along with ports serving the Po Valley, bring together import logistics, manufacturing capacity and networks of small and medium-sized subcontractors.
Steel coil may pass through a service centre for slitting or coating before being sold to a fabricator. Aluminium billet or primary metal may be extruded or rolled before a downstream manufacturer takes delivery. In either chain, the importer of record may not be the company that determines the product’s specification or production schedule.
A company’s presence in these regions or involvement in metals processing does not show that it sourced a particular CBAM-covered shipment. Establishing links to specific shipments requires matching company names with transaction-level evidence.
Shipment data needed to assess exposure
The authorised CBAM declarant has an obligation linked to embedded emissions and the applicable EU allowance price. The ability to pass the CBAM cost on depends on price formulas, product differentiation, supply security and the purchaser’s bargaining strength. Processors with thin margins or slow contract repricing may face pressure even when their own direct CBAM filings are limited.
A useful next dataset would rank Italy’s imports by CN8 code and non-EU origin, then identify major import houses, steel service centres, extruders and documented industrial customer relationships. Analysis should distinguish material imported from outside the EU from intra-EU supplies, and separate high-volume products from those with a high price per tonne. The customs ranking alone does not establish which companies are declarants or identify the businesses connected to particular shipments.