CN 7222Covered by CBAMIron & Steel

CN 7222 under CBAM — Stainless Bars & Sections

Other bars and rods of stainless steel; angles, shapes and sections of stainless steel

Stainless bars, rods, bright bars and sections — the stock EU machine shops turn into valves, pumps, fasteners and food-grade equipment. Indian stainless long-product makers, from large mills to the bright-bar specialists of Gujarat and Maharashtra, export under this heading, frequently drawing on purchased stainless billet or wire rod.

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Covered

CBAM status of this heading

1 Jan 2026

Definitive phase — certificates due

€70–80

per tCO₂ — certificate price tracks EU ETS

up to ~40%

typical cost cut with verified actuals

Emission profile

Where the emissions in CN 7222 come from

Like all stainless, the number is driven by the melt route and ferro-alloy precursors; for cold-finished bars, the purchased stainless feedstock is itself a precursor carrying most of the emissions. Defaults apply one conservative figure across these very different setups. The EU default value for this heading is deliberately conservative — verified actuals separate a scrap-heavy, efficient chain from the worst-case assumption.

Why we don’t print a default value here

The EU publishes and updates specific default values per goods category separately — quoting a stale number would mislead you. What never changes: defaults are set deliberately high, and the markup escalates from 10% in 2026 to 30% by 2028 for steel and aluminium (free-allowance phase-out runs to 2034). Use the CBAM calculator for a current, product-specific estimate.

What to do

Exporting under CN 7222? Three moves, in order.

01
Identify your production route and precursors
Establish whether you melt or convert: own melt shop (document scrap and alloy inputs) or purchased stainless billet/rod (a precursor requiring supplier data).
02
Collect the data you already have
Melt or drawing-line electricity records, feedstock purchase invoices with mill traceability, heat-treatment fuel logs, ferro-alloy documentation where you melt.
03
File verified actuals, not defaults
Have the numbers computed to the EU CBAM methodology and verified, then hand your EU buyer’s Authorised Declarant a filing they can use. Verified actuals typically cut the CBAM cost by up to ~40% versus default values — and the default markup only gets worse, escalating from 10% in 2026 to 30% by 2028 for steel and aluminium.

Free this quarter: We cover your first report (April–June 2026) so an inflated EU default never costs you an order. Continue only if you choose to. Free for the April–June 2026 quarter — start your report by 30 September 2026.

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Frequently asked

CN 7222 and CBAM, in plain English

Is CN 7222 covered by CBAM?

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Yes. CN 7222 — stainless steel bars, rods, angles, shapes and sections — is a covered good under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Any consignment under this heading imported into the EU has carried reporting obligations since the transitional phase (1 October 2023 – 31 December 2025), and since the definitive phase began on 1 January 2026 the EU importer must buy CBAM certificates against its embedded emissions. Bright-drawn and cold-finished stainless bars are within scope alongside hot-rolled product.

How much CBAM cost does CN 7222 face in 2026?

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CBAM certificates track the EU ETS carbon price — roughly €70–80 per tonne of CO₂ in 2026 — so the bill is your embedded emissions multiplied by that price. For Indian BF-route steel products the difference between bases is dramatic: default-basis costs run roughly €250–270 per tonne of product, versus roughly €65–170 per tonne on verified actuals — about €80,000–€180,000 on a single 1,000-tonne consignment. The exact figure depends on your route and product mix, which is why the first step is a proper calculation, not a guess.

We draw bright bar from purchased stainless wire rod. What is actually ours to report?

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Your own stage — drawing, grinding, heat treatment, their electricity and fuel — plus the precursor emissions embedded in the purchased rod. The precursor dominates the total, so the leverage sits with obtaining your rod supplier’s verified data. We verify your stage and run the supplier chase in parallel, so the filing your EU buyer receives covers the whole chain.

Do stainless fasteners made from our bar face CBAM again?

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Fasteners fall under CN 7318, which is CBAM-covered in its own right — the bar becomes a precursor inside the fastener’s embedded emissions. Emissions are not “charged twice”; they accumulate through the chain and are declared once, at import of the final covered good. Establishing verified data at the bar stage directly improves the fastener maker’s filing too.

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