Russian metallurgical firms’ scrap purchases up in Apr over Mar

According to Russian Railway statistics, in April this year direct supplies of steel scrap by rail to Russian metallurgical companies and pipe plants totaled 1.31 million mt, down 10.5 percent compared to April 2011 but up 19.2 percent compared to March this year. In the January-April period of this year, Russian companies purchased 3.78 million mt of scrap according to the same source, down 13.8 percent year on year.