CBAM for Steel Importers: Default Values, Costs, and How to Cut Them (2026)

Steel is the sector CBAM hits hardest. It has the most product codes, the widest spread of emission values, and some of the highest defaults of any covered good. If you import iron and steel into the EU, or you export it there, the default value attached to your product is very likely higher than your real emissions, and the gap is money.

This guide covers the steel-specific picture: where the values sit, what they cost, and how to bring the number down.

How CBAM treats steel

Iron and steel is one of the five covered CBAM sectors, alongside aluminium, cement, fertilisers, and hydrogen. Every steel product in scope is identified by its CN code and assigned a country-specific default value: the embedded emissions, in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of product, used when verified actual data is not available.

Steel is unusual in two ways:

• Breadth. It spans far more CN codes than any other sector, from semi-finished slab and billet through flat-rolled coil, bars, rods, wire, and finished products. Each can carry a different value.
• Range. Steel default values run from well under 1 tCO2e/t for simple products up to the low double digits for the most carbon-intensive grades (silicon-electrical and certain alloy steels sit at the top). The route of production matters enormously: blast-furnace steel and electric-arc-furnace steel are worlds apart.

See the full picture on the iron and steel sector page, which lists every steel product with its value across exporting countries.

Why steel defaults sting

Two things compound for steel importers.

First, the base values are high, because primary steelmaking is carbon-intensive and the defaults reflect a conservative production route. Second, the markup on top is the standard one: reported at 10% in 2026, rising toward 30% by 2028 for most goods, steel included. There is no gentler schedule for steel of the kind fertilisers get.

The result is a recurring story in the trade and legal press: default values for steel from several major exporters, including the United States and India, have been called out as higher than those producers' actual emissions. For an EU buyer, that means paying more for CBAM certificates than your real carbon footprint warrants, which makes your steel less competitive than a supplier who reports verified actuals.

The mechanism is explained in full in CBAM default values explained; steel is simply where it bites hardest.

Find your steel default value

You need your CN code and your country. Then:

• By country and sector: open your exporter and the steel sector together, for example China steel, India steel, Türkiye steel, or South Korea steel. Each lists every steel CN code with its direct, indirect, and total value.
• By product across countries: open a product to compare exporters, for example flat-rolled steel or semi-finished steel (slab and billet).

If your country is not listed for a given steel code, the Other countries and territories figure applies. Every value shows its source line citing Implementing Reg (EU) 2025/2621.

What it costs

The certificate cost on a steel shipment follows the standard CBAM formula:

embedded emissions (your steel default value times your tonnes) × the EU ETS price × the phase-in obligation share, minus any carbon price paid at origin.

Steel volumes are large and the values are high, so the absolute numbers get big fast. A single coil shipment can carry hundreds of tonnes of embedded CO2. Rather than estimate by hand, run it: the exposure calculator takes your steel product, country, volume, and year and returns the embedded emissions and the estimated certificate cost. The full method is in how to calculate your CBAM costs.

How to cut your steel CBAM cost

For steel, the savings from reporting actuals are among the largest of any sector, precisely because the defaults are so conservative. The path:

1. See the gap.Use the calculator's default-vs-actual comparison to size the difference between the steel default and your real installation emissions, multiplied by your volume and the ETS price.
2. Get the producer's verified data.This is the real work. The EU importer can only use a lower number if the mill's installation-level emissions are documented to the EU's standard. Electric-arc-furnace producers with low-carbon power have the most to gain here.
3. Use the templates. Send the supplier emissions questionnaire to your mill, or the buyer data-request sheet to your supplier, to collect the figures in a usable form.

For an integrated blast-furnace producer, the gap to the default may be smaller. For an efficient EAF mill running on a clean grid, the verified number can be dramatically lower than the default, and the case for reporting actuals is overwhelming.

Key dates for steel importers

• 1 January 2026: the definitive period began; steel imports now carry a financial obligation.
• Through 2026: report emissions; steel defaults apply where actuals are not available.
• By 30 September 2027: surrender certificates for 2026 emissions (certificates become available to buy in 2027).

A 50-tonne annual per-importer threshold exempts the smallest importers, but steel shipment sizes mean most steel importers are well above it.