In 2025, France accounted for 6.5% of the EU’s extra-EU CBAM-code import value, equivalent to about 7.2 billion euros using the rounded reporting-country share. The figure measures import value, not a uniform Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) burden across products or companies.
Exposure extends through industrial supply chains
The reported imports include aluminium, steel, fertilisers, cement and clinker. France has major industrial buyers, but its customs share is smaller than Italy’s or Germany’s, and its exposure also reaches aerospace, automobiles, engineering, construction and agriculture. These industries use products whose costs and supplier mix can be influenced by the carbon border mechanism.
An aluminium chain, for example, may run from a non-EU smelter to a European rolling or extrusion plant and then to a French aircraft or vehicle producer. Constellium has publicly disclosed an aerospace supply relationship with Airbus, but that relationship does not establish that primary metal imported from a particular origin was used in any identified aerospace component.
Similar limits apply to tracing imported steel to car plants or structural projects. For fertilisers, the initial importer may be a wholesaler or agricultural supply group, while farmers or cooperatives are typically the end users. Cement and clinker can pass through grinding operations, terminals and concrete manufacturers before reaching construction contractors.
Customs records do not show the full exposure
Cementir has published information on Egyptian white-cement exports to France, providing a cross-border commercial example. However, the importer of record and the final concrete buyer require separate verification.
Exposure assessment must distinguish domestic production, intra-EU sourcing and direct non-EU imports. A French manufacturer buying metal from a German distributor may be economically exposed without making a direct CBAM declaration; conversely, a French declarant may import goods and resell them elsewhere in the EU. An industrial-beneficiary study therefore cannot rely only on national customs entries.
A company map could combine product-level customs data with aerospace and automotive supplier disclosures, metal processors, agricultural distributors and cement terminals. For each chain, it could record the foreign production site, industrial conversion stage, final buyer and pricing mechanism. Such a map could help banks and manufacturers test supplier switching, carbon-price scenarios and contractual pass-through, rather than assuming that all 7.2 billion euros of imports carry an identical burden.
