India-UK FTA to boost aluminium exports as carbon tariffs pose challenge

FTA could triple aluminium exports to the UK by 2030, while R&D collaboration may enable extraction of critical minerals from aluminium by-products

The recently signed India-United Kingdom (UK) free-trade agreement (FTA) could treble Indian aluminium export to the other signatory nation by 2030, even as the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), effective January 2027, threatens to nullify these gains, according to experts and industry leaders.

 

India’s aluminium sector is poised for a boost under the FTA, which eliminates the UK’s import duties previously ranging from 2 per cent to 10 per cent.

 

“With the FTA now in place, the aluminium industry aims to treble its export to the UK by 2030 from the current 21 kilotonnes per annum (KTPA), worth $93