# Does it matter for CBAM if an extruder uses primary or secondary aluminium billet?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/aluminium-extruder-primary-or-secondary-billet-cbam

Yes. For aluminium products, unwrought aluminium is the precursor, and the Commission's guidance says to tell primary from secondary where known. Primary comes from electrolytic smelting, secondary from remelting scrap, and their embedded emissions differ, so the billet mix shapes your profile's figure.

## How the figure is built

- Embedded emissions of the billet you consume, split by primary and secondary where known.
- Your own direct emissions from homogenising, extrusion and other heating.
- Electricity is not counted for aluminium goods.

## What to collect

- Billet purchases by supplier and type, in tonnes, for the calendar year.
- Each billet supplier's verified figure, or a note that you will use default values.
- Your output in tonnes, by CN code.

## Scrap inputs

Scrap itself is not a precursor and carries no upstream emissions, which is why secondary billet tends to come out lower.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads an exporter's fuel and electricity invoices into dated, fingerprinted records that a monitoring plan and a verifier can trace back to source. Senseible does not verify emissions, register operators in the CBAM Registry or file CBAM declarations.

- [Extruder buying Odisha aluminium](https://senseible.earth/answers/extruder-buying-odisha-aluminium-cbam-calculation)
- [Does scrap count as zero](https://senseible.earth/answers/does-scrap-count-as-zero-emissions-cbam)
- [India default values for aluminium](https://senseible.earth/answers/cbam-default-value-india-aluminium)

Sources: [European Commission, CBAM Guidance No. 5e, aluminium](https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/590e983b-c937-41ea-bb9f-810c29e70e1e_en?filename=Guidance%20No.%205e%20-%20Sector-specific%20guidance%20document%20on%20aluminium.pdf), [European Commission, CBAM Guidance No. 2, quick guide for non-EU operators (14 August 2026)](https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/91e1056c-4524-4705-aaa7-e25c1439a87a_en?filename=Guidance%20No.%202%20-%20Quick%20guide%20for%20non-EU%20operators%20on%20CBAM%20implementation.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.