The UK’s exports of stainless steel scrap to Bangladesh surged by 108pc in 2019, from the prior year. Imports rose as Bangladesh aims to ramp up its domestic finished stainless steel making capacity.
Bangladesh became the top importer of stainless steel scrap from the UK in 2019 and imported 95,064mt, up from 45,728mt in 2018. The country’s imports from the UK particularly surged in March, April, August and September by 560pc, 231pc, 540pc and 161pc, respectively.
Spain was the second-largest importer of stainless steel scrap from the UK and imported 49,603mt, up by 23.6pc from a year ago. India, however, which was the top importer from the UK in 2018, imported 60,490mt of stainless steel scrap, down by 29pc from 2018 as the domestic supply of stainless steel scrap in India increased.
The UK’s total exports of stainless steel scrap in 2019 rose by 39pc to 394,668mt from 284,137mt in 2018.
In Dec 2019, the UK exported 34,444mt of stainless steel scrap, up by 21pc from the previous year.
Pakistan was the top importer of stainless steel scrap from the UK, and imported 15,298mt in Dec 2019, up from 971mt in Dec 2018. India’s imports, however, dropped by 50pc to 4,382mt in December, from 8,680mt in the prior year. Finland’s imports of stainless steel scrap had soared in Nov 2019 to 11,493mt from 10mt a year ago on Indonesia’s policy announcement to ban nickel exports from Jan 2020. In December, however, Finland imported 3,021mt from the UK, down by 45.5pc from a year ago.
The UK is the fourth largest stainless steel scrap exporter in the world, and the third-largest exporter from Europe after Germany and the Netherlands.