Aluminium scrap moves from the shredder and demolition industries of the United States and Europe to the secondary smelters of India, South-East Asia, South Korea and China — with India now the largest single buyer of many grades.
Aluminium scrap moves from the shredder and demolition industries of the United States and Europe to the secondary smelters of India, South-East Asia, South Korea and China — with India now the largest single buyer of many grades.
Aluminium is light, so its scrap trade is large by value and by container count rather than by tonnage. The major sources are the United States, which exports more aluminium scrap than any other country, the European Union and the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and the Gulf. Shredder plants produce Zorba and Twitch; demolition produces sheet and extrusions; dismantlers produce castings and wheels; can-recycling schemes produce UBC.
India imports aluminium scrap in very large quantities for its secondary alloy and extrusion industries and has become the first or second destination for US and European material. Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and South Korea run large secondary smelting sectors; China, once the dominant buyer, now imports only recycled aluminium raw material that meets its national standard, so mixed scrap is sorted in neighbouring countries before it reaches Chinese smelters.
A second flow runs within the producing regions: Europe’s own secondary smelters in Germany, Italy, Spain and Norway compete for European scrap, and US smelters compete with the export market, which is why aluminium scrap prices in the exporting countries follow both the LME and the Asian bid.
| From | To | What moves | How it ships |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | India, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Mexico, China | Zorba, Twitch, Tense, Taint/Tabor, UBC, extrusions | Containers from Los Angeles–Long Beach, Port Newark, Houston, Savannah |
| European Union | India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey, EU smelters | Sheet, extrusions, castings, Zorba, turnings | Containers from Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg; road within the EU |
| United Kingdom | India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey | Mixed sheet, extrusions, castings, Zorba | Containers from Felixstowe, Southampton, Liverpool |
| Japan | South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China | Castings, sheet, wheels, Twitch | Containers from Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya |
| Gulf states | India, Pakistan, Malaysia | Extrusions, sheet, castings | Containers from Jebel Ali, Hamriyah |
| Canada, Australia | India, United States, South Korea, Malaysia | Sheet, castings, UBC | Containers and road to the US |
| Malaysia, Thailand | China | Sorted Twitch and wrought scrap meeting GB standards | Containers; processing-and-re-export route |
Clean single-alloy grades — extrusions, UBC, wheels — move easily and are accepted everywhere. Mixed grades — Zorba, mixed castings, mixed sheet — go where sorting is cheapest, which is South-East Asia and India, or to the new sensor-sorting plants in the exporting countries. Turnings and dross move as declared residues.
All aluminium scrap ships in containers. Zorba contracts specify metal content and size; wrought grades are sold against the ReMA descriptions; everything is assayed on arrival.
China’s recycled-aluminium standard (GB/T 38472 for cast and wrought recycled aluminium) sets the entry conditions. The EU and the Basel Convention regulate mixed and residue grades. India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have each adjusted import licensing for scrap in recent years; the current conditions are on each country page and in our rules guides.
Each country page carries its mills, smelters, yards, price references and the named firms on this site.