More than half of the aluminum produced in North America was created out of scrap aluminum, according to statistics released by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI).
The institute, which released a fact sheet related to the recycling capacity of aluminum on Tuesday, noted that while North America had the highest recycling input rate of 57pc, Europe had the highest recycling efficiency rate (RER), recovering around 81pc of aluminum scrap in the region.
China, the largest consumer of the metal produced more than 10mn mt of aluminum scrap per year, accounting for a third of the global scrap production, IAI indicated. The data estimates that around 30mn mt of recyclable aluminum scrap is produced globally every year.
Marlen Bertram, director, Product Stewardship at IAI, noted that the global RER for aluminum stood at 76pc, highlighting the “economic and environmental value of recycling scrap.”
She predicted that the global demand for aluminum would double over the next 30 years. Moreover, she estimated that 50-60pc of the demand would be met by recycled aluminum scrap.
Primary aluminum output rises
The IAI indicated that global primary aluminum production increased by 3.97pc in September to 5.42mn mt from the same month last year. The institute did not disclose the volumes for September 2019. Compared with August, the per day rate of producing primary aluminum increased by 1.46pc to 180,800mt in September.
Regionally, China made up for more than half of the primary aluminum produced during the month at 3.15mn mt. The rest of Asia produced 348,000mt, while the Middle-East or GCC region produced 465,000mt of aluminum in September.
East and Central European countries produced 338,000mt of aluminum in September, while their Western European counterparts manufactured 270,000mt of the metal last month. Aluminum production in North America stood at 317,000mt, while Africa, Oceania, and South America produced 131,000mt, 158,000mt, and 83,000mt of the metal in September.