BIR Ferrous Division members see balanced market

BIR Ferrous Division members see balanced market
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Members of the Ferrous Division of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) say ferrous scrap demand is healthy and predict volatility will be limited in the near future, according to reports delivered at that division’s meeting in New Delhi in mid-October 2017.

“We have seen a softening over recent weeks, but it is felt that we have reached the bottom and should see a more balanced market for the remainder of 2017,” said board member Tom Bird of United Kingdom-based Liberty Steel.

Divisional President William Schmiedel, who works in the United States for Sims Management Global Trade, remarked, “We have experienced quite a volatile marketplace, with traded cargoes at levels close to $240 all the way up to $360 to $370 per metric to.” He added, “This volatility is typical in a market in the recovery stage, with fixing levels finding new highs then backing off, but always only to a level that exceeded the previous bottom.”

Despite a strong scrap market for most of the year, India has been priced out of the international marketplace and its imports are expected to be around 40 percent lower than last year, said Bird, who offered market report summaries from fellow Ferrous Division members from around the world. “Overall steel demand has been sluggish [in India]. On a positive note, Bangladesh has been driving demand for scrap in the Indian Subcontinent with 2 million metric tons expected (to be imported) for 2017.”

In the U.S., car demand has been slightly off, although the recent loss of an estimated 500,000 vehicles because of hurricanes Harvey and Irma appears to have spurred additional sales in September.

In a “World Steel Recycling in Figures” update provided by Ferrous Division Statistics Advisor Rolf Willeke, he said China had exported almost 880,000 metric tons of ferrous scrap between January and August 2017, with more than 580,000 metric tons of shipped out in July and August.

In the first half of 2017, the EU remained the world’s leading ferrous scrap exporter, following an increase in its overseas shipments of 15.8 percent to nearly 10 million metric tons, with the four biggest buyers being Turkey (up 19.5 percent to nearly 6 million metric tons), Pakistan (down 6.4 percent to about 700,000 metric tons), the U.S. (up 31.5 percent to about 650,000 metric tons) and Egypt (up 118.5 percent to about 610,000 metric tons).

“India is an extremely important market for the ferrous scrap industry, and we are delighted that at last we have our global conference in this wonderful country,” Bird told delegates assembled in New Delhi.

India was the world’s second largest steel scrap importer in 2016 at 6.4 million metric tons. It currently is the third largest steel producer globally and will soon take over second position from Japan, according to guest speaker R. R. Ganesh, director of sourcing at India-based Jindal Stainless. “My country’s rapid urbanization will fuel steel production,” he told the meeting. “Demand for (stainless) steel scrap is growing rapidly in India, but domestic scrap availability remains minimal. Therefore, we will remain dependent on steel scrap imports for a long time.”

Jindal Stainless is to expand the melting capacity of its Jajpur-based Odisha stainless steel mill by 2.2 million metric tons to 3.2 million metric tons between 2017 and 2022, according to Ganesh.

Shri Sunil Barthwal, joint secretary at India’s Ministry of Steel, provided the meeting with an overview of developments in the steel industry, with a focus on his own country, and Atlanta-based market analyst Becky E. Hites of Steel-Insights LLC commented on how the Chinese government had succeeded in closing 120 million metric tons of annual induction furnace capacity at 500 sites during the past 12 months. This was portrayed as part of the government’s anti-pollution campaign and resulted in scrap exports from China to India and South Korea, among other Asian countries.

The closures have been made quite aggressively, according to Hites. “They cut water and electricity while trucks are sent to confiscate and literally pick up machinery,” she remarked, adding that some of the closed furnaces have migrated to India.

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Source: Recycling Today
BIR Ferrous Division members see balanced market
<![CDATA[Members of the Ferrous Division of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) say ferrous scrap demand is healthy and predict volatility will be limited in the near future, according to reports delivered at that division’s meeting in New Delhi in mid-October 2017. “We have seen a softening over recent weeks, but it is felt that we have reached the bottom and should see a more balanced market for the remainder of 2017,” said board member Tom Bird of United Kingdom-based Liberty Steel. Divisional President William Schmiedel, who works in the United States for Sims Management Global Trade, remarked, “We have experienced quite a volatile marketplace, with traded cargoes at levels close to $240 all the way up to $360 to $370 per metric to.” He added, “This volatility is typical in a market in the recovery stage, with fixing levels finding new highs then backing off, but always only to a level that exceeded the previous bottom.” Despite a strong scrap market for most of the year, India has been priced out of the international marketplace and its imports are expected to be around 40 percent lower than last year, said Bird, who offered market report summaries from fellow Ferrous…