Total scrap usage in the countries and regions covered by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) fell by 10.5pc to 209.834mn mt in H1 2020 from 243.536mn mt during the same period last year.
Speaking at BIR’s divisional webinar on Oct 14, Rolf Willeke, Statistics Advisor of the BIR Ferrous Division observed that ferrous scrap consumption decreased significantly across the world in January-June 2020 amid lower crude steel production. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had a more negative influence on global ferrous scrap consumption than on crude steel production.
China, the world’s largest ferrous scrap consumer, witnessed a 7.3pc drop in steel scrap usage for steel production to 93.75mn mt in H1 2020 from 101.13mn mt in the same prior-year period. In Q2 2020, however, Chinese scrap consumption rose by 25.7pc to 52.22mn mt from 41.53mn mt consumed in the first quarter, keeping it at the top as the world’s largest ferrous scrap user in the first six months of the year.
In the EU-28 region scrap used for steel production fell by 13.3pc to 39.812mn mt in the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year. In the same period under comparison, scrap consumption declined in the US by 18.9pc to 20.2mn mt, in Russia by 7.3pc to 14.551mn mt, in Japan by -19.8pc to 14.294mn mt, and in South Korea by 8.3pc to 13.569mn mt, according to BIR.
Turkey’s steel scrap usage decreased by 4.3pc to 13.658mn mt, with the reduction in scrap-intensive electric furnace production, that fell 4.3pc to 11.419mn mt, being slightly more pronounced than the 4.1pc drop in the country’s crude steel production.
EU-28 was the world’s leading steel scrap exporter in January-June 2020, though shipments from the region declined by 10.7pc to 9.776mn mt. Scrap exports also decreased from the US and Russia by 2.3pc and 7pc to 8.401mn mt and 2.172mn mt, respectively.