BIR releases Non-Ferrous Metals World Mirror-July 2016

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

August 12, 2016 05:32:19 AM

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has released the latest edition of Non-Ferrous Metals World Mirror.

According to the report, Britain’s exit from the European Union has led to steel decline in sterling prices. The fall in currency prices has badly impacted the UK secondary aluminum sector. The BIR noted that the Far East markets have suddenly become competitive. The exports from the UK continued to remain weak. Germany reported low scrap activity levels during recent months. High quality aluminum and copper scrap reported shortages.

Meantime, Japan has reported significant drop in domestic demand for aluminum scrap. As a result, export of aluminum scrap, mainly UBC, to other countries such as South Korea and China reported huge jump in volumes. As per statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, the country’s aluminum scrap exports during the initial half of the year has surged higher by 12% over the previous year to total 81,551 tons.

The US reported acute shortage of sheet and cast aluminum. The Zorba prices witnessed sharp decline during the months of May and June this year. However, a trend reversal is very much on the cards. The seasonal weakness in demand from automotive sector kept the overall demand for aluminum scrap low in Mexico. The availability of primary aluminum and healthy volumes of scrap imports also led to the sharp drop in demand for domestic aluminum scrap in the country.

The domestic aluminum scrap prices in India have declined. The brass scrap activity slowed down ahead of holidays. The trading margins in copper have reduced to almost nil. The decline in prices resulted in low profits for majority of secondary market players in China. The data released by Chinese Customs authorities indicate that the country recycled 8.76 million tons of non-ferrous metals during 2015, higher by almost 10% when matched with the year before. The total value of recycled non-ferrous metals climbed higher by 14% to 139.56 billion yuan. Meantime, non-ferrous scrap imports by the country dropped 6.7% year-on-year to 5.767 million tons during the entire year 2015.

Recently, Ukraine had implemented Euro 30 per tonne scrap export tax on ferrous metals. Reports indicate that Kazakhstan is likely to impose export restrictions on certain type of scrap materials. Scrap communities in Russia and Kazakhstan have already raised opposition to the plan saying that such restrictions are a clear violation of Customs Union regulation and other free trade agreements.

The market conditions continued to remain challenging in Australasia region. The availability of some grades of scrap continued to remain extremely tight. The demand remained muted in South Africa as well. The scrap activity in the Middle East has managed to report steady levels of activity, showing signs of steady but gradual recovery following the weak market conditions that existed during Ramadan holidays.

Meantime, the latest research report released by Technavio predicts 5% CAGR growth to global non-ferrous metals market during the period from 2016 to 2020. According to the report, global copper market volumes are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% to touch 38 million metric tons by 2020. The total shipment by global aluminum market is expected to rise from 70.37 million metric tons in 2015 to 88.97 million metric tons by 2020, growing at a CAGR of nearly 5%.