China’s steel scrap consumption decreased by 18.4 million tonnes or 13.3% on year to 119.55 million tonnes in the first half of 2022, according to Feng Helin, secretary general of the China Association of Metal scrap Utilization (CAMU).
Addressing the China International Metal Recycling Conference 2022 in Kunming in Southwest China’s Yunnan province on July 28, Feng noted that in contrast to the large fall in ferrous scrap consumption, in the first six months of this year China’s crude steel output dipped by a small 6.5% on year to 526.88 million tonnes.
Moreover, steel scrap consumed in the country’s steelmaking sector fell by 1.8 percentage points on year overall to 22.69%, he said.
Currently in China, the uncertainties facing the global economy amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, the significant fluctuations in steel and raw materials prices, plus the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in many regions, are presenting challenges to the domestic steel industry, Feng explained.
Over January-June this year, China’s electric-arc-furnaces (EAFs) contributed 10.38% of the country’s total steel output, lower by a tiny 0.77 percentage point on year. Accordingly, scrap utilization in the EAFs edged down by 47.8 kg/tonne on year to average 632.8 kg/t, while ferrous scrap feeds introduced to converters fell by 10.3 kg/t to 179.9 kg/t, according to the CAMU statistics.
The weakening demand has weighed on domestic steel scrap prices, as Mysteel’s assessments have found. By end-June, Mysteel’s steel scrap price index had edged down by Yuan 327.8/tonne ($48.6/t) on year to Yuan 3,375.7/t and including the 13% VAT, according to the database.
Written by Lindsey Liu, liulingxian@mysteel.com
This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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