At SteelOrbis' and Irepas' "Steel in the Raw" conference in Milan Monday, representatives from the companies Black Country Metals, Assofermet, and Metal Expert spoke to the attendees about the raw materials market.
Peter Matthews CMG of Black Country Metals gave a presentation about the deep sea
scrap freight market, focusing on global import and export trends for ferrous
scrap. Mr. Matthews CMG noted that the major
scrap exporters in the world in 2005 were the USA, the European Union, and
Russia, with the
US (the world's second largest scrap-exporting country;
Russia is the first.) exporting 10.5 million metric tons of
scrap in 2005. Mr. Matthews CMG also listed the major
scrap importing countries in 2005 in descending order:
Turkey,
China, South
Korea,
Spain,
Italy, and
Germany. His statistics show that EU countries' exports to South
Korea, however, declined sharply in 2005, while EU
scrap exports to developing
India rose significantly in 2005. The top three importers of
US scrap in 2005 were
China,
Turkey, and South
Korea. Mr. Matthews CMG closed his presentation by giving the audience his
opinion that the flow of
scrap from one country to another is extremely important, such that if this flow of materials were to stop for two weeks, the entire world market would collapse.
Roberto Lunardi of the company Assofermet shared his take on the European raw materials market in his speech, from an Italian point of view. Mr. Lunardi told the audience that in Italian local supply does not provide enough
scrap to feed the domestic demand for electric arc furnace mills, therefore the country imports a great deal.
Italy differs from other European countries in this respect; in most European countries, the four or five biggest
scrap manufacturers can fulfill domestic need. He implied that this is not a disastrous situation, just a challenge to the Italian steel industry that may be resolved in time.
Andrey Pupchenko of event sponsor Metal Expert shared his analysis of the raw materials market, from a
CIS standpoint. He said that while 2004 to 2005 was a period of great consolidation in the
CIS scrap market, it is still under considerable restrictions of the local governments. His company's statistics show that in
Russia and
Ukraine, deliveries into the domestic markets are growing, while exports are slightly down. Mr. Pupchenko shared his point of view that the surplus of
steelmaking capacities will eventually drive
scrap export down.