[SMM Stainless Steel Flash] CBAM Expansion to Everyday Products: EU Cost Wave Looms for SMEs and Consumers

Published: Jul 8, 2026 15:17

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The EU Parliament's ENVI committee approved by 70% a draft report extending CBAM to downstream products including cars, appliances, furniture, building materials, and agricultural machinery, with implementation targeted from 2028. With the current EU carbon price at around EUR 80/tonne — projected to reach EUR 140 by 2030 and EUR 250 by 2045 — the expansion is set to systematically raise the cost of imported everyday goods and increase compliance burdens for SMEs, with no compensation mechanism in place. ACEA criticized the plan as technically flawed and inconsistent, calling for a postponement to at least 2030. Separately, EUROFER's claim of losing 30 million tonnes of capacity and 30,000 jobs over five years has drawn scrutiny: its own data shows actual job losses of around 17,000, while the capacity decline reflects reduced crude steel production rather than installed capacity — partly because European producers substituted slab imports from Russia, China, Brazil, and Indonesia to protect downstream margins, while holding accumulated free ETS certificates worth an estimated EUR 56 billion.

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