Germany's aluminium industry has failed to recover from its post-2021 slump, with new production data for the fourth quarter of 2025 showing output across key segments still running at just 76 to 88 percent of 2021 levels.
Capacity utilisation is set to fall by a further 0.8 percentage points this year, according to figures released by industry association Aluminium Deutschland.
The country, widely regarded as Europe's most important aluminium hub, has now gone four years without growth. Industry leaders attribute the prolonged stagnation to uncompetitive economic conditions, deep structural shifts in key customer industries, and persistently weak domestic demand.
"The situation is worrying," said Aluminium Deutschland President Rob van Gils. "Our innovative German aluminium industry has not been able to recover since 2021 due to the moderately competitive conditions. Without an active and effective industrial policy and a significant improvement in location factors, our industry will not be able to survive — Germany will become even more dependent on raw materials and miss its resilience targets."
Recycling output contracts again
Aluminium recycling posted a negative result in the final quarter of 2025, with companies producing around 629,000 tonnes between October and December, a decline of three percent on the same period a year earlier. Full-year recycling production came to approximately 2.7 million tonnes, one percent below 2024 and around 16 percent below the 2021 baseline.
Semi-finished products hold steady
Production of semi-finished aluminium products offered a slightly brighter picture, rising two percent in the fourth quarter to around 518,000 tonnes. For 2025 as a whole, total output reached approximately 2.3 million tonnes, up one percent on the previous year.
Rolled products fared relatively well, with annual production of 1.8 million tonnes representing a two percent year-on-year increase — though that figure still sits around 12 percent below 2021 levels.
The extrusion segment, dominated by medium-sized manufacturers, continued its steeper decline. Output fell one percent to 463,000 tonnes, leaving it roughly 24 percent below 2021 levels and prompting particular concern about overcapacity and structural viability in that part of the sector.
| Segment | 2021 (tonnes) | 2024 (tonnes) | 2025 (tonnes) | vs. 2021 (2024) | vs. 2021 (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recycling | 3,220,000 | 2,741,000 | 2,713,000 | 85.1% | 84.3% |
| Rolled Products | 2,058,000 | 1,790,000 | 1,822,000 | 87.0% | 88.5% |
| Extrusions | 610,000 | 467,000 | 463,000 | 76.5% | 75.9% |
Source: Aluminium Deutschland e.V.
Trade policy adding to structural pressures
Beyond weak demand from the automotive, construction, and plant engineering sectors — all of them major consumers of aluminium — industry representatives point to EU trade policy and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as compounding factors that are eroding Germany's competitive position internationally.
Aluminium Deutschland Managing Director Angelika El-Noshokaty called for a fundamental shift in how industrial policy is approached.
"We urgently need to turn away from traditional industrial policy thought patterns, in which we always first speculate about the possible effects of our actions on our trading partners and then think about our domestic industry," she said.
"If relief or protective instruments such as the industrial electricity price or CBAM come to nothing and there is a threat of additional burdens, we will not stop the ongoing deindustrialisation of Germany and will put urgently needed industrial jobs at risk."
