In case you missed it, ReMA published its 2023 Yearbook in February 2024 (download the PDF). The Yearbook replaced the ISRI Factbook, which we relied on to provide vital statistics about our industry, including the major importing and exporting countries for steel and iron, aluminum, copper, and stainless.
After considerable research by our team, we discovered current data for metal recycling is difficult to find and assemble; official U.S. data points are through the end of 2023.
The Yearbook, therefore, provides a good overview of the industry — with the caveat that things are rapidly changing.
For up-to-date news, we recommend visiting the ReMA website — members can log in to view trade and other info. We also recommend reading industry journals, such as Metals Recycling. Hopefully, ReMA will publish its 2024 Yearbook within the next couple of months.
The data presented by ReMA provides many positive signs and trends for our industry. All stats listed below are end of 2022 unless otherwise noted.
Iron and Steel
✔️ The U.S. processed nearly 70 million tons of recycled iron and steel.
✔️ U.S. steel mills consumed approximately 56.6 million metric tons of recycled iron and steel and produced 82 million metric tons of steel. The authors note that recycled ferrous metal consumption is projected to rise in the coming years amid significant electric arc furnaces (EAF) capacity expansion plans in the U.S. and abroad.
✔️ The U.S. steel consumption by end-use market was broken down to include Construction (46%), Transportation (26%), Machinery & Equipment (8%), Energy (6%), Appliances (5%), and Other (9%).
✔️ Nearly 80% of the recycled iron and steel recovered in the U.S. is sold to domestic steelmakers, foundries and other manufacturers. The balance is exported to recycled steel consumers in 80+ countries around the world — making the United States the largest single exporter in the world.
In the following chart from the Yearbook, note that Mexico, India, and Bangladesh increased their imports by double digits over 2021.
Recycled Iron & Steel Exports by Country © ReMA Yearbook 2023
Non-Ferrous – Aluminum
✔️ The U.S. recovered nearly 9 million metric tons of non-ferrous metals.
✔️ Non-Ferrous breakdown includes: aluminum (5.4 metric tons), copper (1.8 metric tons), lead (1.0 metric tons) and nickel / zinc (.5 metric tons combined)
✔️ The share of aluminum produced in the U.S. from recycled material continues to grow, with domestic recovery increasing 6.3% in 2022; 80% of U.S. aluminum production comes from recycled aluminum.
✔️ The Transportation industry is the largest consumer of aluminum at 35%, with Packaging at 23% and Building at 16%.
Copper
✔️ The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 830,000 metric tons of recycled copper were recovered in 2022.
✔️ The superior quality of U.S. recycled copper is highly valued by manufacturers overseas. U.S. exports of recycled copper and copper alloys exceeded 926,000 metric tons valued at nearly $4.9 billion in 2022. Note in the chart below that Exports exceeded Domestic Recovery.
✔️ Building Construction is the largest consumer of copper at 46%; Electrical / Electronic Products comprise 21% of the end use market.
U.S. Recycled Copper Industry © ReMA Yearbook 2023
Nickel and Stainless Steel
✔️ Stainless steel producers in the U.S. rely on recycled metal to supply 90% of their raw material needs.
✔️ The production of stainless steel, alloy steels, and other nickel-containing alloys account for more than 85% of nickel consumption in the U.S.
✔️ EV batteries are in increasingly important source of nickel demand as lithium-ion batteries depend on nickel-containing cathodes to boost performance.
U.S. Stainless Steel Industry © ReMA Yearbook 2023
Recycled Material Trade Flows – Exports
ReMA’s 2023 Yearbook provides data for ferrous and non-ferrous exports for January – September 2023 and compares this time period to the same one in 2022.
Appendix C includes five charts worthy of attention, including U.S. Recycled Material Exports by Country. This chart, which is by FAS Value ($), is a little misleading as it includes ALL material — paper and fiber, electronics, glass, and post-consumer plastic.
The individual charts by recycled metal type are more informative to shredder yard owners.
We’ve included two charts, U.S. Ferrous Exports (Chart 1) and U.S. Aluminum Exports (Chart 2). We encourage you to download the full report for further reading.
Chart 1
While Turkey has received lots of press about being the largest importer of U.S. recycled iron and steel, what’s also interesting is Italy’s 6,702% increase for the Jan – September 2023 period.
According to analysis by the Italian CDP Group, “Italy is the second largest steel producer in Europe, after Germany, and the eleventh in the world. Over 85% of production is secondary steel, made from scrap iron in electric furnaces.
“Steelmaking based on the electric furnace is a national technological excellence, consolidated since the post-war period, which allows the sector to achieve higher productivity levels than its main competitors.
“Italy is also second in Europe for steel consumption. This is among the key inputs of several strategic supply chains such as construction, industrial machinery, automotive, energy and electronics.” (Read the full report.)
Chart 2
The aluminum export market data shows two countries — China and Thailand — increased imports of U.S. recycled aluminum significantly in 2023 — with Vietnam and Japan in third and fourth place, respectively.
Also note the U.S. increased total exports slightly — by 3.9% — for the 2023 vs. 2022 period.
