Metal scrap: China remains the largest user of scrap despite falling consumption

According to the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), China’s scrap consumption in the first nine months of 2022 fell 6.7% year-on-year to 170.83 million tonnes, but the country remained the world’s largest user of scrap. The country’s crude steel production fell 3.4% year-on-year in the same period.

According to the report, the EU-27 countries were the world’s largest exporters of scrap in the first nine months of last year, although they shipped 13.26 million tonnes of scrap, down 9.1% year-on-year. During the same period, US scrap exports decreased by 6.5% year-on-year to 13.04 million tonnes.

In 2022, the Japanese scrap market reached its highest level since 2008 as prices remained high due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar. Last year, Japan’s scrap exports fell 13.6 per cent to 6.31 million tonnes due to steel production cuts in Vietnam.

The country’s scrap exports fell below the annual total of 7 million tonnes for the first time since 2011, when they stood at 5.44 million tonnes.

The improvement in market conditions in early 2023 is based on optimism generated by the Chinese government’s implementation of further stimulus measures, including the abandonment of the strict zero-case policy.

On the other hand, as Turkey has long been the world’s largest importer of scrap, the earthquakes are expected to have a major impact on the market. Activity on the Turkish scrap market largely came to a halt at the beginning of February, as priority was given to humanitarian aid.

Weekly prices list – International Ferrous Scrap euro/ton