European scrap metal recycling companies can invest in quality improvement, but this should be done through cooperation with steel companies, with profits sufficient to justify the investment, delegates at the Kallanish Steel Scrap 2026 conference in Istanbul on February 5 said.
As the European steel industry aims to produce more flat rolled products in electric arc furnaces, higher quality scrap will be required. In Europe, only 15% of flat rolled products are made from EDP steel, compared with 55% in the United States.
The difference between them lies not only in technology, but also in communication, says Alain Ekman, commercial director of Casier Recycling.
In the United States, scrap suppliers and EDP factories are openly discussing the best way to produce scrap metal that will allow EDP to produce higher quality steel.
This led to the creation of specialized copper plants with low copper content, as well as joint investments in scrap processing facilities. At the same time, scrap factories and suppliers in the EU do not interact effectively with each other, Ekman warns.
Olivier Francois, president of the Recycling Europe industrial association, agrees, noting that European companies have always said they need higher-quality scrap, but then were not willing to pay a sufficient premium when they were offered it.
Waste processors would lose money if they invested heavily in a product whose price did not rise.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the conference, a scrap metal buyer from a major European steel producer said that investments were really needed to improve the quality of scrap.
However, he noted that he cannot be expected to pay more unless his customers are also willing to pay more for greener steel products. If he had agreed to a higher price for scrap metal without being able to communicate this to customers, his profits would have been reduced.
Author: Thomas Gutierrez, Great Britain
Kallanish.com
