ISRI: US government should protect steel scrap trade

United States – The US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has called on the US government to tighten trade rules and other measures to ensure China reduces overcapacity in its steel industry. Such efforts are necessary, it argues, to avoid future tensions and a repetition of the crisis in trade relations between the two countries.

A combination of factors, including developments in China’s steel industry, has led to the most difficult market conditions for decades for steel recyclers and the steel industry, it is claimed. The total value of steel scrap recycled in the USA dropped from US$ 26.1 billion in 2014 to US$ 18.3 billion in 2015, mainly as a result of reduced demand and the fall in scrap prices.

According to estimates from ISRI, more than 100 scrap recycling companies have had to shut down over the last two years, resulting in more than 11 000 job losses. A previous study reported a total of 39 022 jobs were directly linked to the scrap recycling sector and another 86 254 jobs indirectly supported by the sector in 2015.