The authorities in China’s Shandong Province have announced that they plan to eliminate 18.76 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 13.97 million mt of iron-smelting capacity in the 2021-2025 period. Meanwhile, the provincial government is encouraging blast furnace and converter-based steelmaking enterprises to transform into electric furnace-based steelmaking enterprises, with 10 percent of BF and converter enterprises expected to complete the transformation by the end of 2025. Meanwhile, Shandong Province will also eliminate 2.95 million mt of coking capacity by the end of 2025.
As a result of these changes, it is expected that demand for scrap will increase during the 2021-25 period.