UK recyclers reject calls for limits on scrap metals exports

Metals recyclers are at loggerheads with the British steel industry over a call to limit lucrative scrap exports so steel can be reused by UK furnaces.

- Jasper Jolly

The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) claims a ban on scrap steel exports to less wealthy countries could cost £5bn in lost economic activity and as many as 20,000 jobs.

Steelmakers in the UK are keen to retain the metal to melt down into new steel.

Most of the 5.6m tonnes of steel produced in the UK in 2023 was made in Port Talbot and Scunthorpe in carbon-heavy blast furnaces reliant on iron ore dug from the ground.

However, both sites are expected to upgrade to electric arc furnaces (EAFs), which use greener technology to melt scrap and produce steel.

Currently, four-fifths of the UK's scrap steel is exported via scrapyards and is often melted in EAFs abroad.