BIR non-ferrous president Robert Stein has predicted that this could be a positive year for the non-ferrous metal industry.
Writing in the introduction of the latest BIR Non-Ferrous World Mirror, he said that emerging markets are showing demand for material.
He wrote: “The flow of non-ferrous scrap around the world continues to evidence strong patterns of demand from nations with limited or geographically-displaced supplies of scrap or of naturally-occurring ore deposits from which to make virgin metal.
“This portends a solid place for our industry in the many years to come as industrialising nations’ economies expand to become developed economies – ie when their per-capita GDP reaches certain financial thresholds and they are no longer considered to be in states of development.
“Usually, this comes hand-in-hand with increased availabilities of domestic non-ferrous scrap, together with consumerism, enhanced production capabilities and overall economic maturity. We have seen this in many parts of Asia over the past decades – think of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
“This will most certainly occur in China.”
