Steel scrap is iron and steel recovered for remelting: old scrap from demolished buildings, ships, cars and machines, and new scrap from steel mills and fabricators. It is the main raw material of electric arc furnaces and part of every converter charge, and because steel can be recycled again and again it is the most recycled material in the world.
Also called
Ferrous scrap
Iron scrap
HMS 1&2
HMS 80:20
Shredded scrap
Busheling
Plate and structural (P&S)
Steel turnings
Rebar scrap
Melting scrap
AR
خردة الحديد والصلب
ZH
废钢
DE
Stahlschrott
FR
Ferrailles (riblons d'acier)
ES
Chatarra de acero
IT
Rottame di acciaio
TR
Hurda çelik
RU
Стальной лом (металлолом)
Main formsHeavy melting scrap (HMS), shredded, busheling and bundles, plate and structural, turnings, rebar scrap, cast iron scrap
Typical sizesPrepared to charging-box size, typically up to 1.5 × 0.5 m (HMS 1, ISRI 200 up to 60 × 24 in)
Scrap is collected by dealers and processors, sorted, and prepared to grade: heavy pieces are cut to size with shears and torches, light and mixed scrap such as car bodies is torn into fist-sized pieces in a shredder and magnetically separated, and sheet offcuts are baled into bundles. Preparation decides how densely the scrap loads into the furnace basket, how fast it melts and how much non-ferrous metal and dirt comes with it.
Scrap quality is mostly a question of residual elements. Copper, tin, nickel, chromium and molybdenum cannot be removed in steelmaking, so scrap carrying copper wire, motors or galvanized and plated material limits the steel it can make. Clean new scrap (busheling, bundles) is prized for flat products; HMS and shredded scrap feed long-product mills; DRI or pig iron is added to dilute residuals where quality demands it.
Scrap is traded by grade under the ISRI (now ReMA) specifications in deep-sea trade and the European scrap specification within Europe. Turkey is the world's largest importer of scrap, and the price of HMS 1&2 (80:20) delivered CFR Turkey is the benchmark for the international market; MESteel publishes it weekly as HMS 80:20 CFR Turkey. The scrap grades table compares the common grades.
GCC steel mills melt scrap in electric arc furnaces alongside DRI made from natural gas, so local scrap is a valued raw material and several GCC states restrict or tax its export to keep it in the region; rules change, so check the current position for each country before trading. Scrap also arrives from ship-breaking, demolition, oilfield equipment and imports, and the region's mills buy HMS and shredded scrap from the deep-sea market when it is cheaper than DRI.
Forms & sizes
Scrap is bought by grade, with limits on size, density, residual elements and contamination, and delivered in bulk or containers. Weight is settled on weighbridge tickets, usually with a deduction for moisture, dirt and off-grade material agreed on inspection.
HMS 1 / HMS 2
Heavy melting steel cut to charging size, over 6 mm (HMS 1) and over 3 mm (HMS 2); traded as mixes such as 80:20
Shredded
Fist-sized, dense, magnetically separated pieces from auto and light scrap shredders
Busheling and bundles
Clean new sheet clippings, loose (busheling) or pressed into bales (bundles)
Plate & structural (P&S)
Cut plate, beams and heavy sections; low residuals
Turnings
Machine-shop turnings and borings, briquetted or loose
Rebar and cast iron scrap
Graded separately because of copper content and high carbon respectively
Steel Mills - Agents & Traders · Stockist - Distributor · Base Materials · Dubai
