The Market
In 2006, the building sector in Western Europe used an estimated 2.9 million tonnes of aluminium.
Around 1.7 million tonnes were used for profiles, making this sector the largest market by far for extruded products, accounting for about 50% of all such shipments.
A more modest, but still substantial, 1 million tonnes found their way into rolled products, representing approximately 24% of all rolled aluminium shipments.
Finally, about 0.2 million tonnes of aluminium were used in castings for a range of building applications, representing approximately 8% of all casting aluminium shipments.
