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THE I SR I SCRAP YEARBOOK
INSTITUTE OF SCRAP RECYCLING INDUSTRIES, INC.
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Chapter V:
The Global Scrap Marketplace
The Expanding Scrap Marketplace
The scrap market has become increasingly global in nature in
recent decades. Figures from the United Nations Comtrade
Database show that in 2015 alone, exports of all scrap
commodities from reporting countries approached 190
million metric tons valued at more than $80 billion
(See Appendix D). While the United States is the largest
exporter of recycled commodities in the world and China is
the world’s dominant consumer of commodities (including
scrap), the scrap marketplace is far from bilateral, stretching
to virtually every corner of the globe.
The globalized scrap market is a function of enhanced
transportation and technological systems, the rising
world population and increased urbanization, as well as
the heightened awareness of the benefits of using scrap
commodities given the Earth’s limited natural resources.
Those benefits include not only the relatively lower price
of scrap as compared to most other raw material inputs,
but also the resulting energy savings and environmental
benefits about which manufacturers and society at large
are becoming increasingly mindful. As a result, global scrap
usage is expected to register continued growth in the
decades ahead as the confluence of demographic, climate,
sustainable development, market, and technological
changes provide even greater incentives to use
recycled goods.
As one example, figures from the Bureau of International
Recycling (BIR) show that between the years 2011-2015,
steelmakers and other consumers the world over consumed
more than 2.8 billion tons of ferrous scrap. Of the 555 million
metric tons of ferrous scrap consumed last year, the BIR
reports that European Union countries consumed just over
91 million metric tons (mt), followed by China (83.3 million
mt), the U.S. (over 56 million mt) and Japan (33.6 million mt).
But the growth in global scrap usage is not limited to any
one commodity, industry, or region. BIR figures also show
that more than 36 million tons of nonferrous scrap were