China's annual scrap consumption could reach 330 million tonnes by 2030 and account for up to half of the country's steel output, according to the China Association of Metal Scrap Utilization (Camu).
"China continues to maintain its course of expanding the usage of ferrous scrap in steelmaking, as part of its aim to reduce pollution. Using ferrous scrap can reduce 1.6 tonnes of carbon emissions for every tonne of steel made, compared with traditional production by iron ore," Camu's secretary-general Sun Jiansheng told an industry conference last week. This could also reduce the share of iron ore and coking coal as the key steelmaking raw materials in the country, he suggested.If scrap's share as a steelmaking raw material increases to 30% by 2025, it could replace as much as 165 million tonnes of iron ore. Scrap currently accounts for about 20.1% of steelmaking raw materials in China, according to Camu.The likelihood of this materializing is especially high if scrap is much cheaper than iron ore due to high domestic supply. Sun estimated that Chinese ferrous scrap availability would be at about 40-50%...