Russia may impose a six-month ban on exports of ferrous scrap material beginning in May after a request was filed by Russian pipemakers with the country's ministry of economic development.
The Russian Foundation for Development of the Tube Industry (FRTP) brings together the country's largest pipemakers, including TMK, OMK and Chelpipe. The group began its campaign for a ban on ferrous scrap exports in December 2018.The organization referred to "the deficit of scrap in the domestic market, which resulted in a speculative increase in prices to local customers of 47% over the past two years.""At the same time, scrap import volumes into the Russian Federation almost doubled [to 950,000 tonnes in 2018, against 527,000 tonnes in 2016]," FRTP head Igor Malyshev said in the request."Currently, Russian steelmakers operate 53 electric-arc furnaces [EAFs] with total annual capacity for 35 million tonnes of steel, but which operate at a utilization rate of only 60%," Malyshev added.According to data provided by the group in a document seen by Fastmarkets, scrap collection in Russia totaled 25.95 million tonnes in 2018, while apparent consumption by...