BIR Valencia 2025 – Non-Ferrous Metals Division: It’s official: Marc Natan is a Non-Ferrous Legend
The secret is out at last: after months of planning and behind-the scenes discussions, Marc Natan has been revealed as the first-ever Non-Ferrous Legend.
Introduced by BIR’s Non-Ferrous Metals Division as an “award to recognise greatness”, this accolade is intended for inspiring figures who have devoted long service to the industry and who have been particularly high achievers in leadership roles and in advocating on behalf of their fellow recyclers, it was explained to the divisional meeting in Valencia on May 27 by its President Paul Coyte of New Zealand-based Hayes Metals.
Mr Natan ticked all these boxes, according to Mr Coyte. In 51 years of service to the industry, he had been an active participant in nearly every BIR committee and had spent six years (2001 to 2007) as President of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division. During this period, his initiatives had included launching the first-ever Non-Ferrous Metals World Mirror publication as a regular information tool for members. He went on to be named Honorary Non-Ferrous Metals Division President for life and, even now, was an active BIR Ambassador for his native Algeria and French-speaking North African countries.
Outside of BIR activities, Mr Natan had run the second-largest non-ferrous metals trading company in France and been a director of the largest secondary copper smelter in Europe. Despite all this, noted Mr Coyte, “he also had the time to inspire and mentor people”.
Receiving the award to a standing and sustained ovation, Mr Natan said: “This is a tremendous distinction. I am delighted and very moved by this recognition.” And with trademark good humour, he went on to thank “everyone who had the excellent taste to select me”.
Mr Natan spoke about the experience he had gained as a Director of the Metallo Group and name-checked just some of the people he had come to know and admire during more than five decades in the business. He also thanked his wife and family for their unwavering support.
“BIR is my home,” he stated, urging people to come forward and take up leadership roles to defend the recycling industry’s shared objectives in the face of many threats and challenges. “Recycling is more crucial than ever,” he said. “Nevertheless, our recycled products are under pressure. They are considered strategic, critical or even hazardous materials. Some governments and consumer associations are stepping up efforts to regulate their international trade. So please continue to work together to build a more sustainable world.”
The plenary session in Valencia then moved on to a discussion of some of the current challenges facing the non-ferrous recycling sector, notably shifting trade policies. A guest presentation from Adam Shaffer, Vice President of International Trade and Global Affairs at the US Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), highlighted the particular concern surrounding the 25% tariffs imposed on the USA’s neighbours to the north and south. “Around 60% of US imports of recycled materials do come from Canada and Mexico, so this causes a significant level of shock within the US,” he said. A “relief valve”, he added, was the exemption for goods collected within the region.
As regards the potential for retaliatory measures by other governments, “one of the biggest concerns we have as an industry in the US is copper”, he continued, not least because of the huge copper component in US exports of recycled materials to China. ReMA was looking to focus its advocacy efforts “where we will have the most impact”, concluded Mr Shaffer. It was also offering its members tariff guidance through its website, weekly webinars and alerts.
Philippe Chalmin, Professor of Economic History at Paris-Dauphine University and founding Chairman of the CyclOpe commodity research institute, suggested in his own guest presentation that the influence of geopolitics on non-ferrous markets was, in many ways, “business as usual”. Over the years, metals had attracted wide-ranging attention from governments through, for example, taxes, mining agreements, embargoes and quotas, he pointed out. Having hailed copper as “the strategic metal of the 21st century” because of its pivotal role in the energy transition, Professor Chalmin identified gold as the metal to have reacted most notably to US tariffs in that its price had now soared well above US$ 3000 per ounce. While an industrial metal for some, in many other ways gold was “just an index of world happiness and, unfortunately here, of world unhappiness”, the speaker lamented.
During a subsequent question-and-answer session co-moderated by Rick Dobkin of Shapiro Metals in the USA and Anirudha Agrawal of Manaksia Aluminium in India, Mr Shaffer predicted that the markets would continue to experience “a little bit more of this wild ride” given the pace of developments in the USA and the uncertainty surrounding what would come next from the new administration. At the same time, he added, other governments might see this as an opportunity to form new alliances and trading partnerships.
Appropriately, the final word went to Mr Natan: drawing on his long experience, he said all crises had an impact on markets. “Volatility is part of our business,” he said simply. During such times, he added, it was particularly important to take care in managing businesses, particularly with long-term investments.