New Delhi: The European Union (EU) is advancing a new waste law which may prevent India from buying metal scrap from the EU. This has continued to concern Indian steel and aluminium manufacturers which rely on this steel waste to a great extent as a raw material.
The EU will revise going to its Waste Shipment Regulation so that it will bans the export of non-hazardous waste, including metal scrap, to non-OECD countries (mostly developed) from May 2027. India is not a member of the OECD and thus may miss this vital source if it fails to gain special permission.
Big buyers such as India, Thailand and Malaysia failed to meet environmental standards required in the EU for an exemption, a draft of the rule was released recently. This will prevent these countries from directly purchasing metal scrap from Europe.
All this is quite relevant to India. Indian steel factories have high demand of high-grade scrap and EU is one of the main exporters of such scrap to India. Around 366,600 tonnes of aluminium scrap was imported by India from the EU in 2025 alone, which made them the largest importer in the EU in early 2026.
Due to this, India’s commerce ministry sent a letter asking the EU for direct negotiation of the new rule as it fears that its imposition could significantly impact the supply of the required scrap steel. The industry groups in India have also lobbied the government to raise the issue.
The EU also recently scrapped an independent proposal to impose a special tariff on aluminium scrap imports. This occurred, in part, due to concerns that it may cause issues with the EU-India trade agreement that is being negotiated, sources claim. The EU is not implementing the tax, but instead will use the same Waste Shipment Regulation to curtail exports from Europe, it said.
There are some Indian officials who believe that a complete ban will not occur. When the rule is completed in November, it could be offered as a “compromised” solution to not cut off entirely, one government official said.
So, for the time being, it’s still under discussion and Indian trade officials are hoping to get some kind of exception in time before the deadline.
