Steel scrap availability to be challenging as 60 nations plan to ban trade

Availability of scrap is going to be challenging as more than 60 countries have either banned or are in the process of banning scrap exports, Steel Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha said.

The secretary also highlighted the lower usage of scrap in steel making in India and said that the usage is not meeting the government's expectations for bringing carbon emissions down.

The government has been pushing domestic players to increase the share of scrap in steel manufacturing.

"Unlike the Western countries, India's scrap usage in steel making is lower. India had availability of around 25 to 27 MT of scrap and going forward this number will certainly go up, but not as much we would like to for our carbon emissions to come down," Sinha said on Thursday.

The availability of scrap is going to be challenging as over 60 countries have either banned or are in the process of banning the export of scrap, he said addressing the 'mjunction Indian Steel Markets' conference here.

Another issue, Sinha said, is that iron ore availability is under challenge as you explore newer areas (with reserves) located in deeper parts of forests where it is difficult to mine on account of various issues including biodiversity etc.

The capacity addition activity will continue to take place in the country, he noted as India has plans to scale up its steel making capacity to 300 million tonne by 2030.

Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia earlier said his ministry will push primary steel producers to use 50 per cent of their input from scrapped/recycled steel by 2047 to help achieve the government target of moving into a circular economy.

Currently, the level of recycled steel usage in primary steel production is only around 10 per cent even though recycled steel contributed to 22.5 per cent of the domestic total steel production of 140 million tonnes, the minister said.

In his address, Vinaya Varma, Managing Director of mjunction, said that the Indian steel industry is passing through challenging times in areas of reduction of greenhouse gases and achieving decarbonisation.

"mjunction has designed online platforms to ensure that steel scrap generated from various sources i.e. ELV scrap, home scrap, industrial scrap etc are consistently available to consumers from all over India, thereby contributing to a more sustainable steel production," the MD said.