‘India’s growing aluminium scrap appetite to be met through increased imports’

India is one of the world’s fastest growing secondary aluminium markets. With vehicle demand growth showing great potential, recycled aluminium consumption is pegged at 8-10 per cent per year. In the recently ended Bureau of International Recycling Non-Ferrous Metals Division convention in New Delhi, the Executive Director of Century Metal Recycling, Akshay Agarwal, noted, “This growing scrap appetite will be met primarily by increased aluminium scrap imports.”

Global export-import data shows India’s aluminium scrap imports have been holding at highs over the past three years.

Recycled aluminium accounts for 30% of India’s total aluminium consumption which currently stands at 3.3 million tonnes per year. In 2016, around 120,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap was generated in India, with the automotive and power sectors together contributing to 75% of the total. Since 2011, secondary aluminium demand in the country has almost doubled to 1.1 million tonnes, of which almost 90% is met through imports. By 2021, the demand is projected to reach 1.5 million tonnes.  

India’s aluminium scrap market may be growing fast but still has a long way to go, believes Mr Agarwal. “There is largely unorganised scrap collection and insufficient awareness, leading to a major proportion of scrap going to landfill rather than recycling,” he said in his address.

However, India is taking baby steps towards aligning its recycling initiatives – mandating car dismantling, setting up depollution facilities and first car shredder of the country being a few of them.

Mr Agarwal described these moves as “baby steps to a future where you may abort scrap import dependency”. But then he emphasised that, only strong regulatory support can give these steps a proper shape eventually modernising the sector in the long run.