Panels, up to 12% higher production costs with Cbam
Assopannelli and EPF call for the suspension of the regulation on industrial urea, the price of which will increase to EUR 60
Key points
Despite the corrective action taken by the European Commission, which announced on the 14th that it would suspend all tariffs currently in force on the import of urea as a compensatory measure for the entry into force of the Cbam on 1 January, the introduction of this rule will cause significant economic damage to the European panel industry, which uses urea as the basis for the production of the glues needed to make panels.
Impact on the entire furniture supply chain
In fact, Assopannelli estimates an increase in the production costs of wood panels of about 10-12% in four years, due to an increase of 40-60 euros per tonne of urea from the entry into force to the beginning of 2026, with repercussions on the entire European furniture supply chain. "These increases would translate into a loss of competitiveness of European manufactured products compared to finished products imported from non-EU countries, also in light of the fact that European urea production today covers only 20% of industrial needs, making recourse to imports structural," explain Assopannelli.
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is the new EU legislation that introduces a tax on imports of raw materials and semi-finished products that generate high amounts of CO2 in order to be produced. This includes urea, a natural gas derivative used mainly in agriculture as a fertiliser, but also in industry as a base for glue production.
Enterprises: suspend Cbam on industrial urea
Its (for now only announced) suspension would not help Italian and European panel companies: the main countries from which Europe imports are not subject to any tariffs. Consequently, the impact of the suspension of existing tariffs would be substantially residual and would not offset the additional costs resulting from the entry into force of the Cbam.
This is why Assopannelli and EPF (the European panel federation) are asking to temporarily suspend the application of Cbam to industrial urea. A feasible way forward, given that, the association explains, in December the European Commission proposed some changes to the Cbam, (proposal for regulation No. 2025/0419 (COD) and a new article (27 a) was inserted, according to which 'The European Commission shall monitor the impact of the Cbam on the Union's internal market and, if it considers on the basis of concrete data that the inclusion of a certain commodity is causing serious unforeseen problems, in particular sharp price increases, it may intervene by adopting a delegated act to temporarily suspend the application of the Cbam to that commodity, excluding it from Annex I until the situation returns to normal".
