The global ferrous scrap market has been witnessing a shift over the last couple of years with the European Union’s (EU’s) steel production declining, Turkish production and steel scrap imports falling, and a contrasting growth emerging in Indian scrap buying. These points were explored at length at the 13th edition of BIR’s Ferrous Division Conference, recently held in Dubai.
Global crude steel production stood at 949.4 million tonnes (mnt) in H1CY22 (January-June, 2022), a drop of 5.5% compared to CPLY, according to worldsteel data.
Despite a drop of 4.9% to 698.250 mnt, Asia continued to be the world’s largest crude steel producer. Regionally speaking, the lowest crude steel production was recorded by Oceania with a y-o-y drop of 1.8% to 3.146 mnt.
Steel scrap imports in H1CY22
- Turkiye’s imports fall marginally: The first six months of 2022 noticed a 3% dip in Turkiye’s imported ferrous scrap purchases to 12.480 mnt, although the country remained the world’s foremost steel scrap importer. Its main suppliers were the US with 2.232 mnt, the Netherlands with 1.163 mnt and 1.135 mnt were sourced from the UK.
- South Korea second-largest buyer: The Republic of Korea was the world’s second-largest scrap importer in the first half of 2022. It imported 2.722 mnt, up 29.1% , with its main exporters being Japan with 1.703 mnt, the US with 0.399 mnt and Russia with 0.226 mnt.
- India’s imports slightly up: The third big scrap importer in H1 was India. Its imports increased by a marginal 0.3% to 2.673 mnt. The main suppliers were the UAE with 0.711 mnt, the US with 0.208 mnt and Singapore with 0.170 mnt.
World steel scrap usage
In all the major countries, steel scrap usage and crude steel production were lower y-o-y in the initial six months of calender 2022.
- China scrap consumption falls: China’s steel scrap consumption dropped by 13.8% in H1CY22 to 119.55 mnt, more than double the decline seen in the country’s crude steel production over the same period. With the total share of global crude steel production running at 55.5%, China retained its position as the world’s largest steel scrap user.
- EU, US scrap usage down: EU-27, the second-largest steel scrap user worldwide, estimated 43.856 mnt of scrap usage versus a 6.2% decline in its crude steel production to 73.758 mnt.
On the other hand, the US was the third-largest steel scrap user. Its consumption decreased 3% to 22.5 million tonnes versus a 2.2% drop in crude steel production to 41.147 mnt.
World’s scrap exporting market scenario
- US regains its position: Having lost the top spot in 2014, the US regained its position as the world’s leading steel scrap exporter in H1CY22 despite a 5.6% y-o-y decline in shipped volumes to 8.874 mnt.
- EU-27 scrap exports drop: EU-27, the world’s second-largest steel scrap exporter, observed a sharp decline by 23.9% to 8.515 mnt. The largest scrap exporter was the Netherlands with 1.822 mnt. Notably, over the same period, EU-27’s internal steel scrap exports totalled 14.385 mnt.
- UK scrap exports edge down: The world’s third-largest steel scrap exporter was the UK with 4.104 mnt — a fall of 0.8%. Its main buyers were Turkey with 1.053 mnt, Egypt (0.856 mnt) and Bangladesh (0.529 mnt).
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