Metal ores and alloys market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 241 supply contracts for metal ores and alloys through award notices on TED; the 101 of them that state a value (41.9%) add up to €85.3 million, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €49.5 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to metal ores and alloys in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 7204, 2603, 2601, 7202, 2608 and 7 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), down 6.5% from 2023.
- Since November 2023, 273 companies have won 509 public supply contracts for metal ores and alloys in 30 European countries, in 233 award notices from 137 public buyers.
- 2.9% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Estonia.
- The five companies that win most often hold 13.6% of all awards across Europe.
- 21.8% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Metal ores and alloys market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/146-metal-ores-and-alloys, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 146 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 509
- in 233 award notices
- Awarded value
- €169.2M
- from 55% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 273
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 137
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 9 |
| 2024 | 117 |
| 2025 | 241 |
| 2026 | 142 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €9.6M |
| 2024 | €51.5M |
| 2025 | €85.3M |
| 2026 | €22.8M |
- Other35
Table view
| Cities, regions and central administration | 153 |
| Electricity utilities | 68 |
| Environment and waste | 62 |
| Urban transport operators | 54 |
| Coal and solid fuels | 46 |
| Universities, schools and research | 35 |
| Railway operators | 29 |
| Armed forces and defence agencies | 27 |
| Other | 35 |
- Poland13645 companies
- Spain11175 companies
- France3827 companies
- Bulgaria3710 companies
- Romania359 companies
- Ireland3022 companies
- Germany2521 companies
- Austria2214 companies
- Sweden1911 companies
- Czechia94 companies
Table view
| Poland | 136 |
| Spain | 111 |
| France | 38 |
| Bulgaria | 37 |
| Romania | 35 |
| Ireland | 30 |
| Germany | 25 |
| Austria | 22 |
| Sweden | 19 |
| Czechia | 9 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- Micro
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 45 · 8.8% |
| Medium-sized | 51 · 10% |
| Small | 71 · 13.9% |
| Micro | 7 · 1.4% |
| SME (size not stated) | 190 · 37.3% |
| Size not stated | 145 · 28.5% |
- Estonia3
- Italy3
- Germany2
- Austria1
- Switzerland1
- Czechia1
Table view
| Estonia | 3 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Austria | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Czechia | 1 |
Table view
| 2023 | €53B |
| 2024 | €51B |
| 2025 | €49B |
Imports: Eurostat Comext, customs headings 7204, 2603, 2601, 7202, 2608, 2616, 2606, 2618, 2604, 2602, 2610, 2619 (only headings whose trade is mainly this category); all buyers, not only public ones.
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
97.1%
15 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
13.6%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
21.8%
Among 473 awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Companies winning most often across Europe
- 1.МЕТАЛ ГРУП ЕЛИТ 2006 ЕООДBulgaria · 16 notices
Companies with a public page whose main category is this group, by award notices; a market map in Cresques covers one country and, on paid plans, lists every winner there.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Questions
- How big is the metal ores and alloys market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 241 supply contracts for metal ores and alloys through award notices on TED; the 101 of them that state a value (41.9%) add up to €85.3 million, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €49.5 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to metal ores and alloys in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 7204, 2603, 2601, 7202, 2608 and 7 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), down 6.5% from 2023.
- How many public contracts for metal ores and alloys are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 509 supply contracts for metal ores and alloys in 233 TED award notices; the 282 awards with a published value add up to €169.2M.
- Which countries buy the most metal ores and alloys through public tenders?
- Poland (136 awards), Spain (111 awards), France (38 awards) lead; 273 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win metal ores and alloys contracts?
- 2.9% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Estonia.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.