Slow start to year for ferrous scrap values

Global – Recycling International’€™s first ferrous scrap market report of 2015 indicated that Turkish mills were prepared to pay well over US$ 300 per tonne cfr for HMS I/II 80/20 scrap. Fast forward 12 months and the same mix is valued some way below US$ 200 per tonne.

In what has been a largely low-key start to 2016, latest cfr price indications for shipments from Europe to Turkey are US$ 180-185 per tonne for standard quality HMS I/II 80/20 scrap and US$ 185-190 for shredded. One of the major bones of contention throughout 2015 was the unparalleled scale of China’s finished steel exports and their impact on the global steel and scrap markets – and the year was to end on a high, or a low, depending on your perspective.

Figures from China’s customs officials confirm that the country shipped out a massive 10.66 million tonnes of finished steel in the final month for an all-time-high, whole-year total of 112.4 million tonnes – equivalent to a jump of 20% over the 93.78 million tonnes of 2014. China’s National Bureau of Statistics has confirmed that the world’s largest steelmaking nation trimmed its crude steel output last year to 803.83 million tonnes from 822.7 million tonnes in 2014.

And according to the World Steel Association, global steelmaking capacity utilisation slumped to below 67% in November 2015 – a low point for the year.

*The full version of Recycling International’s latest ferrous market analysis will appear in its January/February 2016 issue.