Japan Steels’ Heavy Scrap Purchase Rises by 8.5% in 2007

Japanese steel makers increased heavy scrap purchase by 8.5% to 19.051 million tonnes in 2007 from 2006, according to Japan Ferrous Raw Materials Association. The heavy scrap weight represented 58.8% of the total purchase volume by the makers, which was 1.0 percentage points higher. The heavy scrap purchase by the steels increased by 1.6% to 4.373 million tonnes for HS grade scrap in 2007 from 2006. The volume increased by 11% to 5.186 million tonnes for H1 and by 13.4% to 5.675 million tonnes for H2. The makers’ purchase volume of industrial scrap decreased by 0.2 points to 16.3% of the total purchase in 2007 from 2006 while they increased the new cutting scrap by 274,000 tonnes. The weight of turning scrap purchase decreased by 0.3 points to 8.4% despite of 85,000 tonnes higher volume.