# Lead scrap – Ireland

> A picture of the market – not a commercial recommendation.

Buyers of lead scrap in Ireland according to the Companies register, and the lead scrap trade of the country in 2015–2025 (Eurostat Comext).

- Data as of: 2026-11-04, version 2.49
- Page: https://www.ai-waw.com/en/recycling/lead/ireland
- Search buyers with this country set: https://www.ai-waw.com/en/recycling?metal=pb&country=IE
- imports 2025: 10,246 t (-20.1% y/y); exports 2025: 54,869 t (-13.4% y/y); import unit value 2025 – from declarations, not a market price: 1,683 EUR/t

## Buyers in the country (1)

| Company | Plant | Type of buyer | Accepted grades | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Galway Metal Company Ltd](https://www.ai-waw.com/en/companies/galway-metal-company-ltd.md) | Oranmore – non-ferrous scrap recycling, Oranmore | processor | grades not established in the register documents | [B] Company website – home page (galwaymetalrecycling.ie) |

## Scrap trade

Imports and exports of scrap (total: within the EU and with non-EU countries), balance and unit value from trade declarations.

| Year | Imports (t) | Exports (t) | Balance (t) | Import unit value (EUR/t) | Export unit value (EUR/t) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| 2015 | 12,435 | 31,871 | 19,436 | 1,532 | 260 |
| 2016 | 12,295 | 31,618 | 19,324 | 1,571 | 194 |
| 2017 | 15,756 | 38,619 | 22,863 | 1,792 | 326 |
| 2018 | 13,257 | 44,609 | 31,352 | 1,811 | 286 |
| 2019 | 13,726 | 48,390 | 34,664 | 1,675 | 261 |
| 2020 | 10,840 | 26,737 | 15,897 | 1,465 | 246 |
| 2021 | 12,580 | 55,947 | 43,367 | 1,714 | 386 |
| 2022 | 13,570 | 65,415 | 51,845 | 1,897 | 418 |
| 2023 | 12,680 | 65,267 | 52,587 | 1,926 | 387 |
| 2024 | 12,819 | 63,374 | 50,554 | 1,810 | 404 |
| 2025 | 10,246 | 54,869 | 44,623 | 1,683 | 343 |
| 2026 (incomplete year) | 5,319 | 45,446 | 40,127 | 1,620 | 351 |

Unit value (EUR/t) – value divided by mass from trade declarations (Comext); an approximation of the price level, not a market price.

- Largest scrap suppliers (2025): United Kingdom 10,246 t, China 0.10 t
- Largest scrap destinations (2025): Portugal 45,880 t, Spain 6,890 t, United Kingdom 1,287 t, Netherlands 361 t, Italy 28.1 t

## Spent lead-acid batteries – separate series

Spent lead-acid batteries – 8548 10 21 (2015–2021), 8549 11 10 and 8549 11 90 (from 2022). From 2022 the series also includes waste and scrap of batteries (8549 11 90) – years before and after 2022 are not fully comparable. Battery mass, not lead content.

| Year | Imports (t) | Exports (t) | Balance (t) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| 2015 | 93.9 | 1,892 | 1,798 |
| 2016 | 11.2 | 1,511 | 1,500 |
| 2017 | 13 | 1,046 | 1,033 |
| 2018 | 6.80 | 1,034 | 1,027 |
| 2019 | 7.20 | 420 | 413 |
| 2020 | 5.70 | 3,676 | 3,671 |
| 2021 | 675 | 3,322 | 2,647 |
| 2022 (break in series) | 1.60 | 6,827 | 6,826 |
| 2023 | – | 6,959 | 6,959 |
| 2024 | – | 7,003 | 7,003 |
| 2025 | 0.10 | 8,520 | 8,520 |
| 2026 (incomplete year) | – | 6,073 | 6,073 |

Straight-line distance (great circle) from the shipping point – not road distance.

Pages of the Recycling tab and their Markdown versions: text and data mining (including model training) allowed with attribution (ai-waw.com). Data files (.json, .csv, .xlsx) are reserved (Art. 4(3) Directive (EU) 2019/790), like the data files of the Companies register.