44
to feed India’s growing scrap appe-
tite? Indian scrap traders believe it
won’t.
‘Increased domestic scrap collection is
the future and should be supported
but our emerging economy relies
heavily on scrap imports,’ argued non-
ferrous trader Dhawal Shah of Metco
India.
He also called on the government
to end scrap import duties to support
domestic recyclers and address anoth-
er barrier, namely new standards for
non-ferrous being introduced this
year. Stricter impurity thresholds
are expected to limit imports.
Delegates were also worried about
the impact of tougher inspection
procedures in India for imported scrap
cargoes.
MORE HURDLES
At the same time, external threats are
likely to make scrap supplies even
more challenging. Resource protec-
tionism and CO2 reduction plays a
larger role in policy, observed
FastMarkets’ Lee Allen. ‘The UAE
has imposed an official ban on the
export of steel, South Africa intro-
duced a six-month export ban on
steel scrap from November 2022, and
the EU is proposing to restrict exports
of some scrap metal to non-OECD
countries.’
GOOD BUSINESS
Even so, European scrap exporters
still see India as an important and
growing market. ‘India is complicated
but crucial for our business,’ George
Voyatzis of Anamet in Greece told
Recycling International on the side-
lines of the conference. ‘We started
selling to India 12 years ago and now
we have a solid customer base.
Roughly 60% of our non-ferrous
export goes to India. Ferrous stays in
Europe.’
For UK-based recycling firm Sackers,
the Indian market is ‘very important’,
says managing director David Dodds.
‘Some 80% of our metals are shipped
to India.’ The Indian market has
recently become even more important
for him ‘due to banking issues in
Pakistan’.
Speakers and organisers of the MRAI conference.
Sanjay Mehta: ‘We are extremely happy with the minister’s support.’
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