Steel production and scrap consumption leading markets 2020

In 2020, roughly 1.5 billion metric tons of steel were produced in only seven regions, with China producing the majority at 1052 million tons of steel. By contrast, China’s steel scrap consumption reached 220 million metric tons, two percent more than in 2019. That same year, steel scrap consumption decreased in all seven key countries with the exception of China and Turkey. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a reduction in metal demand, which impacted the steel scrap market.

Steel scrap exports

Since the first industrial revolution, steel has been one of the key materials used in industrial production. With environmental awareness on the rise, companies are now prioritizing the use of recycled metals in the production process. Used metals are crushed and shredded into scraps which can be conveniently transported and used in the production cycle. China is the leading user of steel scrap worldwide. Among the leading exporters of steel scrap, the U.S. exported over 24 million metric tons in 2011, which decreased to some 16.9 million metric tons in 2019. Canada is also one of the major steel scrap exporters globally. For the past couple of decades, the country’s steel scrap exports have shown a positive trend, reaching 4.5 million metric tons by 2020.

The global stainless steel market

In little over a decade, the global stainless steel production more than doubled in volume, but dipped to just over 50 million metric tons in 2020 as a result of the economic downturn brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. To meet the need for stainless steel, scrap imports increased over the recent years as well. In 2019, Western European countries exported just under 3.7 million metric tons of stainless steel scrap. In that period, the total global export amounted to roughly 5.9 million metric tons of stainless steel scrap. While steel and iron have the highest recycling rates for metals, many other materials are still not repurposed, which poses a significant sustainability challenge.