United Arab Emirates’s Ministry of Economy has decided to extend the ban on export of steel scrap by another four months. The country had suspended exports of steel scrap for four months on May 15 and the ban has now been extended till mid-January.
As per the notification released on Sep 13, all major scrap grades, falling under HS codes 720410, 720429, 720430, 720441, 720449, 720450 for ferrous scrap and 720421 for stainless scrap would remain banned for exports in order to support domestic steelmakers. The country has banned waste paper exports under 470710 HS code too.
Most suppliers have managed to export materials despite the ban and its actual impact has been very limited. On the other hand, a sharp drop in UAE exports was driven by weakened buying activities in India and Pakistan.
“Impact of this on actual trades is minimal, the ban has been in effect for a long time now. Many exporters have managed to sell it under different HS codes,” said a exporter-based in UAE.
The ministry informed that the restrictions on scrap exports will ensure domestic steelmakers get enough supplies amid uncertainties caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UAE remains Asia’s second-largest scrap exporter after Japan. Indian ferrous scrap imports from UAE dropped sharply by 47pc to 375,834mt in H1 2020. Though UAE was the highest supplier to India it occupied just 13pc share of total imports recorded at 2.84mn mt in H1 2020. UAE supplies around 1.5mn mt to 1.7mn mt ferrous scrap to India each year, which is projected to drop by at least 50pc in 2020.