Global ferrous scrap consumption falls in CY22 as steel production drops 4% - BIR

The global ferrous scrap market has been witnessing volatility due to the instability of currency exchange values in many countries. Global crude steel production declined by around 4% and scrap consumption has also come down globally. These issues were explored at length at the 14th edition of BIR's Ferrous Division Conference held recently in Amsterdam.

Starting from this latest edition of 'World Steel Recycling in Figures', the Ferrous Division board has decided to replace the term "steel scrap" with "recycled steel". From BIR's own calculations and those of Worldsteel (WSA), it has been concluded that 630 million tonnes (mnt) of recycled steel is used each year in global steel production, thereby preventing almost 950 mnt of CO2 emissions, while also saving energy and conserving natural resources.

Global crude steel production totalled 1,885 mnt in 2022, down 3.9% from 2021, according to WSA data. The data shows a decrease in crude steel production in all regions of the world save for the Middle East.

Despite a drop of 1.8% to 1,384.8 mnt, Asia remained the world's largest crude steel-producing region. Region-wise, the lowest crude steel production was recorded by Oceania at 6.2 mnt, down 2.9% y-o-y.

Scrap consumption in steel production

China top scrap user: According to BIR's statistics, China's scrap consumption was 4.8% lower y-o-y at 215.31 mnt in 2022. The country's crude steel production also declined by 1.7% y-o-y to 1,018.0 mnt. With its share of global crude steel production at 54%, China remains the world's top scrap user.

Lower scrap consumption: Scrap consumption also declined in many other regions of the world parallelly with decrease in crude steel production but the decline was less sharp compared with the drop in steel production. In the EU-27, scrap consumption fell by 9.7% y-o-y to 79.347 mnt versus a 10.8% drop in steel production to 136.221 mnt. In the US, consumption fell by 4.7% to 56.6 mnt compared to a 6.1% decrease in steel production to 80.535 mnt, while in Japan scrap usage dropped 5.7% y-o-y to 32.769 mnt as against a 7.4% decline in steel production to 89.238 mnt.

Global scrap purchase

Turkiye's scrap imports down 16.5%: Turkiye's overseas scrap purchases fell by 16.5% to 20.876 mnt in 2022. However, the country remained the world's foremost scrap importer and the US was the top supplier with total shipments at 3.953 mnt, up 4.9% y-o-y.

India second-largest importer: India was the world's second-largest scrap importer in 2022 (+63.2% to 8.376 mnt), with the main suppliers being the US (+1783.1% to 1.322 mnt), the UK (+224.1% to 1.024 mnt) and Singapore (+22.6 to 0.429 mnt).

Global scrap suppliers

EU top scrap supplier: The EU-27 maintained its position as the world's leading recycled steel exporter in 2022 despite a 9.4% y-o-y decline in shipped volumes to 17.596 mnt; the main buyer was Turkiye (-18.9% to 10.563 mnt).

US exports: There was a decline in scrap shipments out of the US last year (-2.4% to 17.476 mnt), although the country remained the world's second-largest scrap exporter. The major buyers were Mexico (+11.2% to 3.493 mnt), Turkiye (-2.9% to 3.366 mnt) and India (+201.3% to 1.907 mnt).

Japanese exports decline: Shipments by Japan dropped 13.6% on the year to 6.307 mnt followed by Canada (-4.1% to 4.664 mnt), the UK (-0.6% to 8.241 mnt), and Australia (-16.1% to 1.867 mnt).