Earlier this week, in a presentation at the “8th China Iron and Steel Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Forum 2017”, the director of China Metallurgical Industrial Planning and Research Institute (MPI), estimated that China’s steel reservoir, of which scrap could be generated from, will reach about 7.8 billion tonnes in 2017. He hypothesized that the country’s steel reservoir will reach 10 billion and 12 billion tonnes by the middle of China’s fourteenth and fifteenth “Five Year Plan” respectively. Additionally, MPI estimated that Chinese steel scrap generation will exceed 100Mt in 2017, and then could climb to over 200Mt by the end of the fourteenth “Five Year Plan”. According to the MPI, the way to achieve green and low-carbon development in China’s iron and steel industry is to strictly adhere to “one center” (sustainable development) and implement “three steps” which include; improving energy utilization efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing pollutant emissions. China’s crude steel production is marking a rounding top. Stagnant steel production represents both challenge and opportunities. To maintain sustainable development, China’s steel industry is in urgent need of structural reform and products updating. Scrap steel, as an environmental-friendly recyclable metallic input and the only substitution for more polluting raw material – namely iron ore and coking coal – and is deemed to be encouraged by the government in steel production.
