Cape concern over Beijing’s edict to use scrap steel as feedstock

Release time：Aug 09, 2019 From：admin

Capesize owners will be concerned with the latest edict from Beijing regarding China’s huge steelmaking sector. China is looking to ramp up scrap steel as a feedstock, in place of iron ore.

“China is set to place electric arc furnace steelmaking at the centre of reorganization plans for its steel industry, in a move that could have significant implications for the seaborne iron ore market,” Alphabulk warned in its latest weekly report.

“As China’s steel scrap resources move to a phase of high recovery and the reform of electric power system continues to advance, developing electric furnace steelmaking will be an essential part of the restructuring of the steel industry,” said Wang Wei, director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s department of raw materials.

Using steel scrap instead of iron ore as feedstock would give the Chinese a second use for their increasing large stocks of scrap, less reliance on overseas ore, and a reduction in pollution.

“One ton of steel produced with steel scrap reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 tons. It also saves 1.6 tons of iron ore and 0.35 tons of coal, bringing long term implications for the seaborne iron ore market,” Alphabulk explained.

China is by far the world’s largest importer of iron ore, taking in over 1bn tonnes of the commodity every year, principally from Australia and Brazil.

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