China, the EU, and the US reduced their consumption, while India and Turkey increased demand

In January-June 2025, global scrap consumption fell by 6.9% compared to the same period in 2024, to 235.96 million tons. This represents 76% of total global steel production, according to the BIR.

The largest consumer, China, reduced its scrap consumption by 11.4% y/y to 109.01 million tons. In the EU, demand fell by 4.2% y/y to 39.4 million tons, in the US by 9.1% y/y to 26.7 million tons, in Japan by 6.7% y/y to 14.9 million tons, and in South Korea by 11.3% y/y, to 10.2 million tons.

At the same time, India showed a sharp increase in consumption – by 15.3% y/y, to 19.65 million tons. Turkey also increased its figure by 2.2% y/y, to 16.05 million tons. Turkey remains the world leader in terms of the share of scrap in steel production, at 87.7%.

In the foreign trade market, Turkey retained its position as the largest importer of scrap, purchasing 9.4 million tons (-5.8% y/y). The main suppliers remained the US (1.72 million tons; -18.8% y/y) and the Netherlands (1.5 million tons; +14.6% y/y). India retained its second position in imports – 4.58 million tons (+18% y/y), while Pakistan sharply increased its purchases by 181.6% y/y, to 3.1 million tons. Significant growth was also shown by the EU (+4.3% y/y, to 2.48 million tons), the US (+6.7% y/y, to 2.25 million tons), and Thailand (+285% y/y, to 2.2 million tons).

Among exporters, the EU remained the leader, shipping 8.3 million tons of scrap (-2.8% y-o-y). The main buyers were Turkey (+10.7% y/y, to 5.7 million tons) and Egypt (-47.1% y/y). The US reduced exports by 16.6% y/y, to 6 million tons, of which 1.85 million tons were delivered to Turkey. Japan, on the contrary, increased its supplies by 19.5% y-o-y, to 3.8 million tons, and Mexico – by 27.4% y-o-y, to 0.7 million tons.

Overall, the global scrap market in the first half of 2025 showed an overall decline in demand but remained highly active in certain regions.