Scrap consumption by steel industry see huge drop in March

Author: Paul Ploumis
09 Jun 2015 Last updated at 02:26:24 GMT
TOKYO (Scrap Monster): The scrap consumption levels by Japanese steel industry declined further during the month of March this year. The scrap consumption levels had declined during February too.

According to latest statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (MoF), the country’s steel industry purchased 2.07 million tons of scrap during the month, down by 8.3% year-on-year. The scrap purchases had totaled 2.257 million tons during March last year. When compared with previous month levels of 1.973 million tons, the scrap consumption has climbed higher during March ’15.

Out of the 2.07 million tons, carbon steel scraps totaled 1.947 million tons, accounting for nearly 94% of the total scrap purchase by the sector. The carbon steel scrap purchase was down by 8.1% when compared with the total purchases of 2.119 million tons during the same month a year ago. In second place was alloy scrap, where purchases totaled 86,000 tons. The alloy scraps purchases too declined by nearly 11.1% over the previous year. The pig iron scraps purchases totaled 43,000 tons during Mar ’15. The purchases of pig iron scraps tumbled nearly 8.8% when compared with Mar ’14.

As per MoF data, scrap consumption by the country’s steel industry totaled 2.97 million tons during March. The scrap consumption witnessed a decline of 13.6% over the year. Scrap consumption by Japanese steel industry had totaled 3.438 million tons in March last year.