India Ferrous Scrap import to exceed 6 million tons FY 2016

INDIA May 13 2016 1:26 PM     

MUMBAI (Scrap Register): In the  10 months to the end of January this year, India imported some 5.1 million  tonnes of ferrous scrap. The figure is forecast to exceed 6 million tons for the  2015/16 financial year as a whole, which would equate to a leap of more than 20%  when compared to 2014/15, as per the latest report from BIR world recycling  organization.

A 'momentous' few months for the ferrous scrap market have  seen prices leap more than US$ 140 per tonne, thus replacing the 'unsupportable'  conditions of earlier in the year when collections 'broke down at the foundation  level' to the point of being 'no longer economically feasible'. The scrap  industry 'is on a much sounder footing' following this price surge 'but we are  clearly not out of the woods yet', cautions BIR ferrous division president  William Schmiedel of Sims Group Global Trade Corporation.

By turning its  attention from China-sourced billet to scrap, Turkey helped push the market  beyond US$ 300 per tonne in a short space of time. Nevertheless, buyers remained  'circumspect' despite the market increasing rapidly and 'weren't exactly chasing  suppliers to conclude', the Mirror reports.

The EU domestic market is  seeing further price increases of around Euro 40 per tonne for May. Meanwhile,  container trade out of the EU was very active in February and March but has  since slowed as buyers in the Indian Sub-Continent sit back to see how the  market develops'. Buyers and traders in India 'got in when the market was low  and completed their purchases before the current price boom', it is explained.  But despite the pause in their buying activity, 'they will need to import scrap  in the coming months'.