recycled steel

Global Steel Production Uses 630Million Tons of Recycled Steel Every Year! Analysis of World Recycled Steel Consumption and Trade in 2022

In the latest issue of “World Steel Recycling Data”, the International Recycling Bureau replaced the term “scrap steel” with “recycled steel”, emphasizing the recycling properties of this raw material and the importance of green steelmaking. It is estimated that global steel production uses 630million tons of recycled steel per year, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by nearly 950million tons, while saving energy and protecting natural resources.

According to the world steel association, global crude steel production will total 1.885billion tons in 2022, a decrease of 3.9% compared to 2021. Crude steel production fell in all regions of the world except the Middle East. Among them, the output of crude steel in Asia decreased by 1.8% year-on-year to 1.3848billion tons, and Asia is still the largest producer of crude steel in the world. Oceania had the lowest crude steel output, down 2.9% year-on-year to 6.2million tonnes. In other regions, crude steel production in the 27EU countries decreased by 10.8% year-on-year to 136.2million tons, the rest of Europe decreased by 12.3% year-on-year to 45.8million tons, the Commonwealth of Independent States decreased by 20% year-on-year to 85.8million tons, and North America decreased by 5.5% year-on-year to 1.113million tons, South America decreased by 5% year-on-year to 43.3million tons, Africa decreased by 5.2% year-on-year to 21.1million tons, and the Middle East increased by 6.6% year-on-year to 50.4million tons.

According to statistics, in 2022, China’s crude steel production fell 1.7% year-on-year to 1.018billion tons, accounting for 54% of global crude steel production; Recycled steel consumption was 215.31million tons, down 4.8% year on year, but still the world’s largest consumer of recycled steel.

The decline in secondary steel consumption was lower than the decline in crude steel production in the EU-27, the United States and Japan. The consumption of secondary steel in the 27EU countries decreased by 9.7% year-on-year to 79.347million tons, and the output of crude steel decreased by 10.8% year-on-year to 136.2 million tons. U.S. secondary steel consumption fell by 4.7% year-on-year to 56.6million tons, and crude steel production fell by 6.1% year-on-year to 80.535million tons. Japan’s secondary steel consumption fell by 5.7% year-on-year to 32.769million tons, and crude steel production fell by 7.4% year-on-year to 89.238million tons.

The decline in recycled steel consumption was higher than that in crude steel production in Turkey, Russia and South Korea. Turkey’s recycled steel consumption fell 13% year-on-year to 30.271million tons, while crude steel production fell 12.9% year-on-year to 35.134million tons; The consumption of recycled steel in Russia decreased by 8.6% year-on-year to 29.374million tons, while crude steel production decreased by 7.2% year-on-year to 71.469million tons; South Korea’s recycled steel consumption fell 7% year-on-year to 26.315million tons, while crude steel production fell 6.5% year-on-year to 65.865million tons.

In 2022, Turkey’s secondary steel imports will drop by 16.5% year-on-year to 20.876million tons, but it is still the world’s largest secondary steel importer, with the main sources being the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Among them, imports from the United States increased by 4.9% year-on-year to 3.953million tons, while imports from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom decreased by 32.6% and 21.6% year-on-year to 2.165million tons and 1.833million tons respectively.

In 2022, India will be the world’s second largest importer of recycled steel, with imports of 8.376million tons, a year-on-year increase of 63.2%. Its main suppliers are the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Among them, imports from the United States increased by 173.1% year-on-year to 1.322million tons, imports from the United Kingdom increased by 224.1% year-on-year to 1.024million tons, and imports from Singapore increased by 22.6% year-on-year to 429,000tons.

In 2022, the United States ranked third in secondary steel imports, but fell 10.3% year-on-year to 4.72million tons, and its main suppliers were Canada, Mexico and Sweden. Among them, imports from Canada decreased by 6.6% year-on-year to 3.508million tons, imports from Mexico increased by 11.7% year-on-year to 628,000tons, and imports from Sweden increased by 68.3% year-on-year to 175,000tons.

In 2022, Mexico’s recycled steel imports increased by 4.3% year-on-year to 2.940million tons, Thailand’s imports increased by 6.7% year-on-year to 1.764million tons, and Canada’s imports increased by 33% year-on-year to 1.084million tons. In contrast, South Korea’s recycled steel imports fell 2.1% year on year to 4.789 million tons, EU27 imports fell 29.4% year on year to 3.901million tons, China’s Taiwan imports fell 6.4% year on year to 2.89 million tons, Indonesia fell 17.9% year on year to 1.2million tons. Malaysia fell 67.6% year-on-year to 496,000 tonnes.

Global external secondary steel trade (including intra-EU-27 trade) reaches 97.6 Mt in 2022, down 14.9% compared to 2021.

In 2022, the export volume of recycled steel in the 27EU countries fell by 9.4% year-on-year to 17.596,000tons. Among them, exports to Turkey fell 18.9% year-on-year to 10.563,000tons, exports to Egypt fell 21.2% year-on-year to 1.432million tons, exports to Pakistan fell 4.0% year-on-year to 772,000tons, and exports to Bangladesh fell 368.7% year-on-year to 703,000tons. Exports to Switzerland fell 13.9% year-on-year to 483,000 tonnes. In contrast, EU27 exports to India increased 156.4% year-on-year to 1.373million tonnes, and exports to Morocco increased 69.7% year-on-year to 562,000tonnes. In 2022, the export volume of recycled steel within the EU27 was 26.445million tons, down 10.4% year-on-year.

The United States recycled steel exports after the EU27 countries, in 2022, the United States recycled steel exports fell 2.4% to 17.476million tons. Among them, exports to Mexico increased by 11.2% year-on-year to 3.493million tons, exports to Turkey fell by 2.9% year-on-year to 3.366million tons, and exports to Vietnam fell 39.5% year-on-year to 868,000tons.

In 2023, Japan’s recycled steel exports increased 13.6% year-on-year to 6.307,000tons, Canada’s exports fell 4.1% year-on-year to 4.664million tons, the UK’s exports fell 0.6% year-on-year to 8.241million tons, and Australia’s exports fell 16.1% year-on-year to 1.867million tons. In contrast, Mexico’s recycled steel exports increased 11.5% year on year to 822,000tons, and Singapore’s exports increased 5.4% year on year to 722,000tons.