Steel Sector Prospects Under Threat from Scrap Export Bans

The government has been pushing domestic steel manufacturers to increase scrap consumption levels.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Indian Steel Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha pointed out that shortage of scrap availability will be one of the issues threatening the country’s steel sector growth. More than 60 countries across the globe have either banned or are in the process of banning scrap exports.

Sinha, while addressing the mjunction Indian Steel Markets’ conference, highlighted the need for the industry to boost the consumption of scrap in steelmaking. The current usage levels are way behind the expected levels and are insufficient to bring down carbon emissions from steelmaking process to desired levels.

The government has been pushing domestic steel manufacturers to increase scrap consumption levels. The Steel Ministry had recently urged primary steel producers in the country to use 50% of their input from scraped or recycled steel by 2047, in order to help the industry achieve previously stated decarbonisation goal. The recycled steel usage in primary steel production currently stands at around 10%.

Along with scrap availability, the Indian steel industry also faces challenges posed by iron ore availability. A good majority of new reserves are being located in deeper parts of forests, which in turn make it difficult for mining, mainly due to environmental issues.