Mario Arvedi Caldonazzo, head of the Arvedi Group and vice-president of Eurofer, has reiterated his concern over the future availability of scrap in Europe and the need to ensure the strategic resource stays in the continent.

During Tuesday’s Made In Steel event in Milan, Caldonazzo said the export of some 20 million tonnes/year of scrap from Europe – mainly to Turkey – represents a significant loss for the European economy. As European steelmakers are increasing their demand for scrap to further reduce CO2 emissions, scrap has become even more strategic for the future of European steelmakers.

“There are over 50 countries in the world that significantly limit the export of scrap. Europe cannot implement such an export ban, but we need to start making sure that ferrous scrap is defined as a critical raw material, not only waste,” Caldonazzo commented at the event attended by Kallanish. “We need to make sure that scrap remains in Europe. We seem to be the only ones concerned with WTO requirements on this topic.”

The concern expressed by Caldonazzo was also confirmed by Giampietro Benedetti, president of Danieli. He said the availability of scrap resources in Europe will be one of the most important challenges for steelmakers going forward, as integrated producers continue to increase the use of scrap in their production cycle.

At the end of last year, the European Parliament changed the Waste Shipment Regulation, limiting the export of scrap to non-OECD countries, such as India, China and Pakistan. Eurofer welcomed some of the changes implemented by the new regulation, but stressed the need to also monitor exports to OECD countries, such as Turkey.