According to the latest "World Steel Recycling in Figures" report released by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), total steel scrap consumption in the key countries and regions globally amounted to 209.834 million mt in the January-June period this year, down 10.5 percent from the 243.536 million mt recorded in the same period of 2019. All the countries and regions recorded a year-on-year decrease, BIR underlined.
In the first half this year, there was a 7.3 percent decrease in China's steel scrap consumption for crude steel production to 93.75 million mt, as compared to 101.13 million mt for the same period in 2019. However, Chinese steel scrap consumption of 52.22 million mt in the second quarter this year was 25.7 percent higher compared to the 41.53 million mt consumed in the first quarter. These figures confirm that China remained the world's largest steel scrap consumer during the first six months of 2020. BIR sees China boosting its EAF capacity and its scrap generation growing rapidly over the next decade.
According to BIR, also in the first half of the current year scrap consumption decreased by 13.3 percent in the EU-28 to 39.812 million mt, by 18.9 percent in the US to 20.2 million mt, and by 7.3 percent in Russia to 13.551 million mt, year on year. Turkey's scrap consumption was 13.658 million mt in Turkey, i.e., down 4.3 percent year on year. In Turkey, the reduction in scrap-intensive electric furnace production (-4.3 percent to 11.419 million mt) was slightly more pronounced than the drop in the country's crude steel production (-4.1%). However, the country remained the most important importer globally with a 9.009 million mt purchased abroad in the first six months this year (+7.8 percent).
At the same time, the EU-28 remained the leading scrap exporter with 9.776 million mt, down 10.7 percent year on year. The largest EU-28 scrap exporter was the UK with shipments of 2.501 million mt (-25.2 percent). Meanwhile, US scrap exports decreased by 2.3 percent year on year to 8.401 million mt. In contrast, Japan recorded a year-on-year export growth of 38.2 percent to 4.884 million mt.