BIR World Mirror on Stainless Steel & Special Alloys – Quarterly Report July 2025: Scrap squeezed under the weight of competitive forces
A concise summary of the BIR World Mirror on Stainless Steel & Special Alloys – Quarterly Report July 2025. Full version with detailed market reports available in the Members Only section of the BIR website.
The EU’s stainless steel production is loss-making even though it is the most sustainable in the world and achieves significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions through adopting the scrap-based production route.
This is the conundrum highlighted in the latest World Mirror publication released by the BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee. It is followed by a call for the urgent modernisation of the safeguard system designed to protect the European stainless market against unfair competition.
The stainless sector in Europe is currently suffering the effects of a generally weak economic environment and of the uncertainty surrounding the US administration’s unpredictable duty/tariffs policy. The traditional summer lull has also impacted order books, leading to very low demand for stainless steel scrap and thus extreme pressure on pricing.
According to feedback from Italy, scrap prices have been lowered in an attempt to maintain competitiveness with slabs and nickel pig iron, prompting mill customers to push for a reduction in their coil prices. Some of these buyers are said to be holding off from placing an order until they are convinced the offer price is as low as it will go.
Asian demand for stainless steel is unlikely to improve until tariff outcomes become clearer. The market in China has remained weak since the tariff disputes began in April, with reports now circulating of its mills finally cutting production. Even so, it will take some time for stock levels to be reduced.
In the second quarter of 2025, mills in Taiwan and South Korea offered weak demand for stainless steel scrap, with the former attempting to push down their purchasing prices in a bid to mitigate the pressure on their sales of finished stainless goods. Japan’s domestic consumption of stainless scrap has been steady whereas exports have dropped to low levels when compared to previous years as local mills are increasingly using domestic material and logistics costs have risen along with reduced sailings.
In India, where imports accounted for around 30% of the 4.8 million tonnes (+8% year on year) of stainless steel consumed in the latest financial year, the scrap market has been extremely slow, not least because of the abundant availability of alternative raw materials such as nickel pig iron and semi-finished products. Again, higher freight rates have played their part in the lower scrap import figures.
Price escalation in the Middle East, meanwhile, has been driven by heightened raw material inflation, supply chain constraints and elevated energy costs. Supply disruption in the form of shipping delays and material scarcity are impacting lead times and also inventory management.
Superalloy scrap markets, particularly that for Inconel 718, suffered sharp declines in the second quarter as the combination of oversupply, extended mill maintenance and weak spot demand weighed on pricing. Mills in the USA and Europe reportedly slowed melt schedules in order to avoid over-production. Demand from the commercial aerospace sector remained the main pillar of superalloy consumption whereas softness was seen in the European oil and gas market.
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With contributions from its members, BIR publishes periodical commodity reports under the label "BIR World Mirror". These detailed reports exist for Non-Ferrous Metals, Ferrous, Stainless Steel / Alloys, Paper, Plastics and Latin America and provide BIR members with up-to-date information on the respective commodity or market segment.
The report on Non-Ferrous Metals appears once every two months, whereas Ferrous, Stainless Steel, Paper and Plastics are published quarterly. Latin America is covered twice per year.