Posted on 20 Oct 2022
During the meeting of the BIR Ferrous Division on 17 October in Dubai, Rolf Willeke, BIR Ferrous Statistics Advisor, shared 2022’s first-half statistics in the world ferrous scrap trade.
Willeke stated that in all key countries and regions, steel scrap usage and crude steel production were lower on-year in the first six months of 2022, Kallanish notes.
China’s steel scrap consumption fell by 13.8% in the first half of this year to 119.55 million tonnes, which in percentage represents a more than doubled decline seen in the country’s crude steel production over the same period (-6.5% to 526.9mt). With its share of global crude steel production running at 55.5%, China remained the world’s largest steel scrap user.
The second-largest steel scrap user globally was the EU-27, which decreased use by 3.2% to an estimated 43.856mt versus a 6.2% decline in its crude steel production to 73.758mt. The US was the third-largest steel scrap user, with a 3% fall to 22.5mt versus a 2.2% drop in crude steel production to 41.147mt.
Steel scrap usage as a percentage of crude steel production was highest in Turkey at 87.1% and lowest in China at 22.7%, although China is set to increase its scrap usage.
Among key countries and regions, there was a decrease in steel scrap usage of 8.4% to 248.789mt in the first half of 2022, while related crude steel production was down 6.1% at 777.235mt.
The six months of 2022 brought a 3% decrease in Turkey’s overseas steel scrap purchases to 12.480mt, although the country remained the world’s foremost steel scrap importer. Its main suppliers were the US with a 25.7% increase to 2.232mt, the Netherlands with a 33.3% decline to 1.163mt, and the UK with a 17.6% decline to 1.135mt.
The Republic of Korea was the world’s second-largest steel scrap importer in the first half of 2022 with a 29.1% on-year increase to 2.722mt. Its main suppliers were Japan with a 17.8% increase to 1.703mt, the US with a 48.3% rise to 0.399mt, and Russia with a 5.6% increase to 0.226mt.
The third-largest steel scrap importer in the first six months of 2022 was India, which has increased its imports by 0.3% to 2.673mt. Its main suppliers were the United Arab Emirates with a 3.5% increase to 0.711mt, the US with an 11.9% fall to 0.208mt, and Singapore with an 11.9% decline to 0.170mt.
In January-June, scrap imports increased in Thailand, Indonesia, and Norway. On the contrary, import declines were posted for the first half of 2022 by the US, the EU-27, and Taiwan.
Source:Kallanish
