Due to various preliminary data as well as variations in reporting between fiscal and calendar dates, Pakistan’s exact scrap import number for 2017 is still under evaluation, with estimates at slightly below 5 million mt. Regardless of the specific time frames analyzed, it is apparent that Pakistan has and will likely continue increasing its ferrous scrap imports to meet increased melting capacity objectives.
In 2015, Pakistan imported 3.36 million mt of ferrous scrap, which increased by24 percent in 2016 to total 4.04 million mt. According to worldsteel data, Pakistan produced 5.0 million mt of crude steel in 2017 and 3.6 million mt of crude steel in 2016, a 39 percent increase year-on-year.
Per comments made in late 2017 by Khurram Javaid, CEO of Pakistan’s Mughal Iron & Steel, the heightened steel demand is being led by infrastructure projects such as power plants and dams, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and domestic growth.
Additionally, production growth is evident in recent press announcements. Mughal Iron & Steel is planning to increase its annual rebar production capacity from 150,000 mt to 420,000 mt. Pakistan’s Amreli Steel has also announced recently that it will increase its annual rebar production capacity to 750,000 mt over the next two years. Currently, the steelmaker has an annual rebar production capacity of 180,000 mt.
The World Steel Association projected steel demand in Pakistan to reach more than 12 million mt by 2019, from 7.1 million mt in 2015.