Indian imports of ferrous scrap under HS code heading 7204 rose 4.8% on-year in June to 562,079 tonnes, Kallanish learns from Indian commerce ministry data.

The US and United Arab Emirates raised supply by 8.9% and 49.6% respectively to 92,410t and 92,056t. Intake from Singapore surged 173% to 54,249t. However, supply from the UK dropped -36.4% to 45,082t.

In January-June Indian scrap imports thus rose 6.8% on-year to 2.87 million tonnes. Although supply from UAE grew 47.6% to 558,942t, this was offset by a -12.8% and -17.3% drop from the US and UK respectively to 323,979t and 244,577t. Singapore and South Africa supplied 92.2% and 18.5% more respectively at 206,911t and 148,742t.

A notable decline came from Tanzania which shipped -89.2% less at 12,591t, but this was offset by a 286.2% surge in supply from the Republic of the Congo to 24,796t.

The growth is in contrast to full-year 2017 when Indian scrap imports fell -14% on-year to 5.47mt due to new scrap import regulations. India is trying to increase the volume of scrap it uses in steelmaking and is thus seen requiring increased scrap imports until it develops its own generation infrastructure.