The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) expects current issues with container shipments to remain until the end of 2021.

The market needs to prepare for more challenging times, as container production is insufficient, resulting in a shortfall of several thousand containers, said participants at BIR’s annual convention on Tuesday.

On the other hand, China’s policy shift is expected to imply major repercussions for global steel scrap flows.

Objectives enshrined in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan include cutting domestic crude steel production capacity and boosting the use of scrap-intensive electric arc furnaces over the more traditional blast furnace route. China’s policy shift implies reducing its reliance on iron ore and increasing its consumption of scrap and billet imports.

Japan exported 31,496 tonnes of steel scrap to China in March alone, equivalent to more than 65% of total imports. One of the main attractions was that Japan was able to supply sought-after plate and structural (P&S) scrap in relatively small tonnages suitable for trial cargoes.

A relatively short sailing time was another reason why Japan, and also South Korea, emerged as leading suppliers to the Chinese market, explained Jiak Lim, Senior Trader at Singapore-based Zhejiang Metals and Materials. The choice of Japan was also influenced by the fact that many of its large companies had established offices in China. He advised prospective exporters to China to focus initially on P&S and shredded scrap in 20-foot containers for ease of conforming to the country’s import specification requirements.