UK trader Atlas sells ferrous scrap to China

UK-based trading firm Atlas Commodities has become the first European company to officially confirm the sale of a ferrous scrap cargo to China following the country's resumption of ferrous scrap imports this year.

Atlas CEO Harry Seale told Argus that the company sold a containerised lot comprising 1,000-2,000t of plate and structural (P&S) scrap to Zheijang Metals and Materials. The cargo is loading in the next three days and is set to arrive in China at the start of May.

The trade is a trial cargo for both Atlas and the buyer, and its passage through Chinese customs will be keenly observed by the wider market as a barometer of how UK and European scrap will be evaluated under China's new quality standards.

"We know the quality is acceptable — we are just testing out the process," said Seale.

The majority of Chinese ferrous scrap import purchases heard since restrictions were lifted at the start of January have been bulk cargoes from Japan, with small volumes also heard bought from South Korea. Those cargoes were all HS grade, which like P&S matches up with China's HRS101 grade specifications.

Seale said the sale price of the Atlas cargo was competitive with the prices available in other major container scrap import markets at the time of the deal, and that China could become a viable market for UK container exports in the longer term.

Atlas Commodities was launched in 2014 by Marc Robertson, former Group Commercial Sales Director of Metal & Waste Recycling. Seale, who was formerly head of European Metal Recycling's global ferrous containerised sales between 2012 and 2018, and of the group's UK purchasing activity from 2018 to 2020, joined Atlas as joint shareholder last year.

Atlas trades ferrous scrap in both the container and short-sea bulk export markets and to UK domestic customers. Seale said the company has rapidly scaled up to trade 65,000t of ferrous scrap per month.

By Ronan Murphy