India

Mills in India are pushing for a national stainless steel policy framework to safeguard the industry’s interests and create a level playing field. Meanwhile, domestic stainless steel consumption grew 8% to 4.8 million tonnes in the latest financial year, with imports accounting for around 30%. Consumption in India is expected to reach 20 million tonnes by 2047.

At present, India is witnessing sluggish demand for finished stainless steel products, thus directly impacting scrap purchases. The abundant availability of alternative raw materials such as nickel pig iron and semi-finished products has further reduced mill interest in purchasing scrap.

There is good domestic supply of various grades of stainless steel and alloy scrap. With volatile foreign exchange rates and geopolitical concerns impacting transit times and prices, mills have increased their focus on sourcing domestically available scrap. At the same time, exceptionally high freights from the Far East have temporarily restricted scrap shipments to India. This situation is being exacerbated by adverse foreign exchange conditions in exporting countries.

Zurik continues to be interest, with domestic recyclers preferring to import/process it and then sell the stainless scrap to the mills.