BIR published June report on the market of ferrous scrap

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) in its monthly publication assessed the situation in the global scrap metal market during June 2015 and clarified the prospects for the development of the market in the near future.

Growing exports of Chinese billets, rebar and other steel products have impacted global markets, BIR said. Exports of these products from China continue to grow. Only the creation of trade barriers by countries of the world or a significant increase in domestic demand from China would help to effectively control this situation. International purchasing prices for ferrous scrap were severely affected by the supply of cheap billets from China.

Scrap metal exporters from Russia continue to benefit from the fall of the Russian ruble and are likely not going to cut supplies, although the government can exercise its right to restrict exports if necessary. Russian scrap metal exports rose 8.6 percent to 1,115,000 tons during the first quarter. On the other hand, Russia reported an increase in scrap steel use during the first quarter, which rose 8.8 percent to 3.33 million tonnes.

At the same time, the desire of Ukraine to establish maximum quotas for the annual volume of exports, most likely, can limit the export of scrap metal from this country, since its producers are experiencing a shortage. The EU-28 region reported high scrap steel exports in the first quarter, but exports were still down 10.4 percent from the previous year to 3,525,000 tonnes.

Despite the clarification of the new rules for controlling the supply of scrap metal to India, there is a sharp drop in imports, as the regulatory authorities in the countries exporting scrap metal refuse to carry out new checks. According to the government, the import of steel scrap into the country before the introduction of these rules even increased slightly during the first three months of this year by 45.8 percent compared to the previous year to 1,448,000 tons, but began to fall sharply since April.

Industrial consumption of scrap steel fell sharply in China, falling 9.1 percent over the year. The countries reporting declines in their use of scrap metal year on year were Turkey (-11.5 percent), South Korea (-13.3 percent), Japan (-9.3 percent), and the United States (-7 percent).

During the first quarter, Turkey continues to be the world's largest importer of scrap metal. However, Turkish imports fell 5.7 percent in the first quarter from the previous year to 4,143,000 tons. Other major importing countries for scrap steel during this period were South Korea (1,196,000 tons), the USA (964,000 tons), the EU region (648,000 tons) and Indonesia (322,000 tons).