·
Korea
is Nos. 2, Importer Closely followed by India sourcing from UAE
·
China
as largest scrap user with more than half of world steel production shows
decline in steel production; EU and US in second and third ranking also show
decline
[Asim
Goyal Reporting from BIR Meet in Dubai/18.10.2022]
During
the recent meeting of the BIR Ferrous Division on 17 October in Dubai, Rolf
Willeke, BIR Ferrous Statistics Advisor, outlined the key findings in the
January-June 2022.
Global crude steel production
totalled 949.4 million tonnes in January-June 2022 for a decline of 5.5%
compared to the same period in 2021, according to worldsteel.
Data show a decrease in crude steel production in all regions of the world.
Despite
a drop of 4.9% to 698.250 million tonnes, Asia remained the world’s largest
crude steel producer.
China’s
steel scrap usage down by 13.8%
In
all key countries and regions, steel scrap usage and crude steel production
were lower year on year in the first six months of 2022.
According
to our statistics, China’s steel scrap consumption fell by 13.8% in the
first half of this year to 119.55 million tonnes - in percentage terms, more
than double the decline seen in the country’s crude steel production over the
same period (-6.5% to 526.9 million tonnes). With its share of global crude
steel production running at 55.5%, China remained the world’s largest steel
scrap user.
The
second-largest steel scrap user globally was the EU-27 (-3.2% to an estimated
43.856 million tonnes versus a 6.2% decline in its crude steel production to
73.758 million tonnes). The USA was the third-largest steel scrap user
(-3% to 22.5 million tonnes versus a 2.2% drop in crude steel
production to 41.147 million tonnes).
Steel
scrap usage as a percentage of crude steel production was very high in Turkey
(87.1%) and very low in China (22.7%), although the latter will increase its
scrap usage.
Among
key countries and regions, there was a decrease in steel scrap usage of 8.4% to
248.789 million tonnes in the first half of 2022, while related crude steel
production was down 6.1% at 777.235 million tonnes. The steel scrap usage
figure represents verified data for 81.9% of global crude steel production.
Turkey’s
overseas steel scrap purchases fall 3%
The
opening six months of 2022 brought a 3% decrease in Turkey’s overseas
steel scrap purchases to 12.480 million tonnes, although the country
remained the world’s foremost steel scrap importer. Its main suppliers were the
USA (+25.7% to 2.232 million tonnes), the Netherlands (-33.3% to 1.163 million
tonnes) and the UK (-17.6% to 1.135 million tonnes).
The
Republic of Korea was the world’s second-largest steel scrap importer in the
first half of 2022 (+29.1% to 2.722 million tonnes), with its main suppliers being
Japan (+17.8% to 1.703 million tonnes), the USA (+48.3% to 0.399 million
tonnes) and Russia (+5.6% to 0.226 million tonnes).
The
third-largest steel scrap importer in the first six months of 2022 was India
(+0.3% to 2.673 million tonnes). Its main suppliers were the United Arab
Emirates (+3.5% to 0.711 million tonnes), the USA (-11.9% to 0.208 million
tonnes) and Singapore (-11.9% to 0.170 million tonnes)
In
January-June 2022, steel scrap imports increased into Thailand, Indonesia
and Norway. By contrast, import declines were posted for the first half of 2022
by the USA, the EU-27 and Taiwan.
Figures
for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam were not available ahead of our
editorial deadline.
The
USA regains position as world’s leading steel scrap exporter
Having
lost top spot in 2014, the USA regained its position as the world’s leading
steel scrap exporter in the first half of 2022 despite a 5.6% year-on-year
decline in shipped volumes to 8.874 million tonnes. Leading buyers to increase
their purchases from the USA were Mexico (+21.4% to 2.005 million tonnes),
Turkey (+23.4% to 1.969 million tonnes), Bangladesh (+44.7% to 0.900 million
tonnes) and the Republic of Korea (+34.7% to 0.357 million tonnes).
For
the EU-27, the world’s second-largest steel scrap exporter, the opening half of
this year brought a sharp decline (-23.9% to 8.515 million tonnes); its main
buyers were Turkey (-23.8% to 5.805 million tonnes), Egypt (-39.8% to 0.625
million tonnes) and Switzerland (-9.4% to 0.318 million tonnes). The
EU-27’s largest steel scrap exporter in the first half of 2022 was the
Netherlands (-35.8% to 1.822 million tonnes). Over the same period, EU-27
internal steel scrap exports totalled 14.385 million tonnes for a year-on-year
drop of 7.3%.
The
world’s third-largest steel scrap exporter in the first half of 2022 was the UK
(-0.8% to 4.104 million tonnes), with its main buyers being Turkey (-25.9% to
1.053 million tonnes), Egypt (+21.9% to 0.856 million tonnes) and Bangladesh
(+87.6% to 0.529 million tonnes).
Increases
in exports were recorded in the first six months of 2022 by Canada, Singapore,
Norway, Malaysia and Brazil. Conversely, export declines were recorded by Japan
and Australia.