BIR: Recycled Steel Consumption Climbed in the First Half of 2024

The world's biggest consumer of recycled steel is now China.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Key nations and areas consumed 255.18 million tonnes of recycled steel in the first half of this year, up 4.6% from the previous year, according to the Bureau of International Recycling's (BIR) Ferrous Division. The increase comes despite a marginal 0.2% decline in total crude steel production during this period.

The majority of these nations and regions recorded higher consumption of recycled steel in H1 of this year compared to the first half of 2023, according to BIR Ferrous Statistics Advisor Rolf Willeke.

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The world's biggest consumer of recycled steel is now China. The nation's consumption increased by 5.4% from January to June of 2023 to 122.54 million tonnes in H1 2024. It should be mentioned that during this time, China's crude steel output decreased by 1.1%. In the EU and India, the use of recycled steel increased by 8.8% and 14%, respectively. The usage of recycled steel in Turkey increased by 13.1%.

However, the United States used 27.6 million tons of recycled steel, a 1.8% decrease. Japan's use of recycled steel decreased by 0.9% to 16.031 million tons. According to BIR Singapore 2024, South Korea's consumption of recycled steel decreased significantly, falling 14.3% to 11.895 million tons.

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