According to the Belgium-based trade association’s newly released World Steel Recycling in Figures, China used 215.9 million metric tons of scrap last year, up from 187.8 million metric tons in 2018. 

At the same time, the proportion of steel scrap used in the country’s steel production climbed to 21.7% in 2019, the association said. 

“This increase was mainly due to higher pollutant emission standards for the Chinese steel industry. Most of the country’s BOF mills have actively increased scrap inputs and their steel scrap/crude steel ratio is currently said to be 20.2%. There was also a further increase in China’s scrap-intensive electric furnace production from 54 million metric tons in 2017 to 103.2 million metric tons last year,” the association wrote. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. saw its scrap consumption rise 1% to 60.7 million metric tons in 2019. The increase reflects an increase in crude steel production, which rose 1.5% to 87.9 million metric tons.