According to the International Recycling Agency (BIR) official TomBird said in a recent meeting that despite the slowdown in seasonal demand, European scrap prices fell 10-15 euros / tonne in June, but the overall outlook for the global scrap market in 2017 remains positive The With the continuous development of electric furnace steelmaking, scrap use continued to increase, demand remained at a healthy level, the market supply and demand to maintain a good balance.
China's scrap exports in April caused concern, although the Chinese government imposed a 40% tariff on scrap exports, but the offer is still lower than expected overseas buyers, which India, Pakistan and other Asian countries, a greater impact on the procurement mentality. Some experts predict that by 2020 China may become the main force of scrap, before to meet the development of the consumer and construction industry, the production of various types of automotive, equipment and industrial products will begin to be recycled.
The increase in scrap supply will also drive Chinese steel mills to increase scrap use, and China's scrap consumption in 2016 is 90 million tonnes. At present, China's electric furnace steel production accounted for less than 10% of the total output, lower than the global steel industry, the average level of 25%. Nonetheless, with the increase in scrap production, some of the demand for iron ore will be replaced by 2020, China's EAF production is expected to rise to 25% -30%.
As the dollar remains relatively strong, the US government may use the "232" clause to limit steel imports (based on security considerations) and boost US steel prices, which means that US scrap prices may become the world's most expensive future US mills may also look for relative Cheap scrap. US scrap exports in 2011 to 24.33 million tons, then decreased year by year, to 20.66 tons to 12.65 million tons, while the US scrap import market remained stable, 2016 imports of 3.87 million tons, the latter may increase.
