Global secondary steel consumption in key regions fell 6.9% year-on-year to 235.96 million tonnes, accounting for 76% of global steel production. In the first half of 2025, recycled steel consumption fell in China, the EU-27, the US, Japan and South Korea, while India and Turkey recorded increases.
• China: 109.01 million tonnes (-11.4%) – still the world's largest consumer
• EU-27: 39.4 million tonnes (-4.2%)
• US: 26.7 million tonnes (-9.1%)
• Japan: 14.9 million tons (-6.7%)
• South Korea: 10.24 million tons (-11.3%)
• India: 19.65 million tons (15.3%)
• Turkey: 16.05 million tons (2.2%)
The share of recycled steel in steel production was 21.2 percent China, 24.5 percent in India, 33.4 percent in South Korea, 36.7 percent in Japan, 60.2 percent in EU27, 66.4 percent in the US and 87.7 percent in Turkey.
Turkey remained the largest importer, purchasing 9.4 million tons of recycled steel, mainly from the US and the Netherlands, while India came in second with 4.58 million tons.
The EU27 remained the largest exporter of processed steel (8.3 million tons), followed by the United States (6.0 million tons). Export growth was notable in Japan (19.5%), Mexico (27.4%) and Singapore (32.6%), while declines were recorded in the UK (-25.4%), Australia (-46.8%) and Canada (-13.2%).
Both the EU and the US remained net exporters, with surpluses of 5.8 million tonnes and 3.8 million tonnes respectively.
