Basic metals market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 72 supply contracts for basic metals through award notices on TED; the 32 of them that state a value (44.4%) add up to €61.1 million, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €72.6 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to basic metals in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 7601, 7403, 7502, 7901, 7402 and 15 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 1.4% from 2023.
- Since November 2023, 168 companies have won 246 public supply contracts for basic metals in 30 European countries, in 160 award notices from 110 public buyers.
- 9.3% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
- The five companies that win most often hold 12.2% of all awards across Europe.
- 37.4% 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, "Basic metals market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/147-basic-metals, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 147 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
- 246
- in 160 award notices
- Awarded value
- €107.9M
- from 59% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 168
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 110
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 6 |
| 2024 | 78 |
| 2025 | 72 |
| 2026 | 90 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €551.8K |
| 2024 | €17.6M |
| 2025 | €61.1M |
| 2026 | €28.5M |
- Other35
Table view
| Cities, regions and central administration | 103 |
| Universities, schools and research | 36 |
| Electricity utilities | 27 |
| Hospitals and health services | 13 |
| Water utilities | 9 |
| Coal and solid fuels | 8 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 8 |
| Economic affairs | 7 |
| Other | 35 |
- France4533 companies
- Spain4530 companies
- Ireland2515 companies
- Italy2217 companies
- Estonia2011 companies
- Czechia125 companies
- Bulgaria126 companies
- Slovenia117 companies
- Germany1010 companies
- Romania76 companies
Table view
| France | 45 |
| Spain | 45 |
| Ireland | 25 |
| Italy | 22 |
| Estonia | 20 |
| Czechia | 12 |
| Bulgaria | 12 |
| Slovenia | 11 |
| Germany | 10 |
| Romania | 7 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- Micro
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 51 · 20.7% |
| Medium-sized | 11 · 4.5% |
| Small | 21 · 8.5% |
| Micro | 7 · 2.8% |
| SME (size not stated) | 88 · 35.8% |
| Size not stated | 68 · 27.6% |
- Germany4
- France4
- Sweden2
- Czechia2
- Austria2
- Belgium1
Table view
| Germany | 4 |
| France | 4 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Czechia | 2 |
| Austria | 2 |
| Belgium | 1 |
Table view
| 2023 | €72B |
| 2024 | €72B |
| 2025 | €73B |
Imports: Eurostat Comext, customs headings 7601, 7403, 7502, 7901, 7402, 8108, 7801, 8001, 7201, 8104, 8105, 8101, 8112, 8102, 8111, 2805, 7206, 8109, 8103, 8107 (only headings whose trade is mainly this category); all buyers, not only public ones.
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
90.7%
23 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
12.2%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
37.4%
Among 211 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.
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 basic metals market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 72 supply contracts for basic metals through award notices on TED; the 32 of them that state a value (44.4%) add up to €61.1 million, a floor rather than the full contract value. EU countries together imported €72.6 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to basic metals in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 7601, 7403, 7502, 7901, 7402 and 15 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 1.4% from 2023.
- How many public contracts for basic metals are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 246 supply contracts for basic metals in 160 TED award notices; the 144 awards with a published value add up to €107.9M.
- Which countries buy the most basic metals through public tenders?
- France (45 awards), Spain (45 awards), Ireland (25 awards) lead; 168 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win basic metals contracts?
- 9.3% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
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.