EU surpasses US in steel scrap supply

The European Union became the world's leading exporter of scrap steel in the final results of the last year. The EU had to increase the supply of scrap metal by only 0.3 percent to 17 million tons. At the same time, shipments from the United States fell 17.1 percent to 15.3 million tons, displacing the United States as the second largest exporter of scrap metal last year.

These statistics were included in a recently released report by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR). The report showed that the use of scrap steel in global steel production increased 0.9 percent to 585 million tonnes. Overall, over 97 million tonnes of scrap steel were traded on international markets. The strengthening of the US dollar made US export prices less competitive overseas, which was the main reason for the drop in exports. Therefore, most of the steel scrap was absorbed in the US domestic market. Another reason for the decline in US exports is the fall in iron ore prices, which makes the production of steel from ore more attractive.

China and other countries such as Turkey have cut their scrap steel imports relying on their own sources. Analysts also note that Chinese steel mills have begun to rely more on ore. According to World Steel, many countries reduced their imports of ferrous scrap in 2014, including: China decreased by 42.6 percent, South Korea - by 13.6 percent, Turkey - by 3.2 percent and Taiwan - by 4.1 percent. ... Of these, only Turkey's steel production fell in 2014, but much less than its decline in scrap imports. All four countries have organized their own scrap collection and have become less dependent on imports, at least for now.

However, three of the top 10 importers of ferrous scrap increased purchases, including India, the United States and Thailand, which increased imports by 44 percent. From 2010 to 2013, according to the BIR, Turkey was the largest importer of scrap steel and the United States the largest exporter. But that changed last year when the dollar strengthened. Throughout 2014, buyers from Turkey and other countries started looking towards the EU.