The activity of the casting of metals (NACE Group 27.5) was carried out by 6.7 thousand enterprises across the EU-27 in 2006. From aturnover of EUR 37.6 billion, these enterprises generated EUR 11.8 billion of added value in 2006, which was the smallest contribution (4.8 %) to the value added of the metals and metal products manufacturing (NACE Subsection DJ) sector. The casting of metals sector employed an estimated 270.0 thousand persons in the Member States in 2006, about one in every twenty (5.3 %) of the EU-27’s metals and metal products manufacturing workforce which was a slightly higher share than that recorded for basic precious and non-ferrous metals (NACE Group 27.4).

The casting of iron (NACE Class 27.51) and the casting of light metals (NACE Class 27.53) were the two largest activities within the casting of metal, together providing about three quarters (73.3 %) of the EU-27’s value added in 2006.

Germany generated more value added than any other Member State for most of the subsectors of the metals and metal products sector; its share of EU-27 value added was highest, however, for the casting of metals (36.8 %). By way of comparison, this was almost exactly the same share of value added as came from the next three largest Member States combined – Italy (16.2 % of EU-27 value added), France (10.6 %) and Spain (10.1 %). However, the proportional contribution made by this sector to non-financial business economy value added in 2006 was highest in Slovenia (0.8 %), where it was almost four times the average size within the EU-27. In these terms, the Czech Republic and then Germany were the next most specialised Member States^[1] for the casting of metals.

There was a very close match between the development of the EU-27’s production index for metals and metal products manufacturing and that for the casting of metals in the period between 1997 and 2007. Over the ten-year period as a whole, the output of the casting of metals in the EU-27 rose by an average 1.8 per year.