Ferrous scrap import in Turkey and Korea witnessed a fall of 14.5% and 30% Y-o-Y respectively. While, import in India rose by 20% in 2015 against 2014.
Downturn in steel demand globally along with highly competitive steel offers by Chinese manufacturers had hit sea borne scrap trades to a greater extend.
Total seaborne scrap trade aggregates about 100 MnT, out of which, around 30% is contributed by the top three importers viz Turkey, India and Korea.
Scrap import in India increases by 20%
Despite dull demand for steel and poor performance of domestic industry, scrap import in India had shown remarkable growth of about 1 MnT Y-o-Y. India imported about 5.7 MnT in 2015 against 4.7 MnT in 2014.
Around 15% of total scrap import was made from US (0.86 MnT) , 15% (0.86 MnT) from UAE and 14% (0.81 MnT) from UK in 2015.
Market experts mentioned, price desperation among participants about the lowest prices offered and sharp fall in freight charges, as key reasons for increased bulk bookings for scrap in Indian market (in 2015).
Scrap import in Turkey plunges by 14%
Cheaper offers for billet from China had noticeably shifted the interest of world’s largest scrap importing country, Turkey from scrap to billet. Turkey in 2015 imported about 16.25 MnT of ferrous scrap, recording a sharp fall of 14.5% Y-o-Y. The country previously (in 2014) managed to import 19 MnT of ferrous scrap.
US was the highest exporter to Turkey, contributing around 23% (3.8 MnT) of Turkey’s total import, followed by UK contributing to around 15% (2.46 MnT) and Russia with 14% (2.46 MnT) in 2015.
Scrap imports in Korea drops by 30%
Korea, which was the 2nd largest scrap importer in 2014, slipped to 3rd position in 2015. The country imported appox 5.5 MnT scrap in 2015 against 8 MT in 2014.
Chinese billet had dominated the South East Asian steel market. Korea, Taiwan and Thailand known as active importers of scrap and Pig iron in Asian market, had majorly shifted to billet imports. Scrap exporters of US and Japan become the major victim of change in choice.
Key reasons learned for shift in interest were proximity of the nations from China, lower freight cost, faster delivery time and most importantly cheaper offers.
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