Defending free trade.

During the BIR Fall Meeting, held in Milan in late October, delegates discussed nonferrous markets drivers.

During the roundtable, Ildar Neverov, with Teplotov Resource, a Moscow-based scrap company, said that important changes were happening as a result of Russian government regulations. He explained that the Russian government had reduced the export duty on secondary aluminum alloys from 10 percent to 3 percent, while the duty on nickel alloys had been removed altogether. In addition, all scrap operations were set to become VAT-exempt beginning in 2006, though the impact of this measure was difficult to predict, he said.

In discussing the European nonferrous scrap market, Carmelo Paolucci of Trentavizi Srl in Italy noted that high LME copper prices had led to scrap price increases and a lack of prompt availability of raw material. Meanwhile, poor consumption of semi-finished products had led to sluggish demand from secondary aluminum smelters. European demand for lead and antimonial alloys had been stable, while availability problems had kept prices at high levels, he added.

Bob Stein with Alter Trading noted that the two major hurricanes in the United States helped create an "extreme" short supply of trucks and other forms of transportation. He expected a continuation of the support offered to the markets by hedge funds and, in the case of copper, by a lack of material.

Delegates also heard that the economy had achieved growth of more than 9 percent for the ninth consecutive quarter, despite government measures to curb growth.

According to Ben Lee of China's Alco Resources, China's demand for copper and brass scrap remained particularly strong, while the stainless steel scrap market had been suffering the effects of over-production.

The Nonferrous Roundtable also featured an open discussion moderated by Bob Garino, director of commodities at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. One roundtable panelist, Loretta Foretli from Italian scrap consumer Forelli Pietro SNC, said that Chinese demand for scrap had created huge supply problems for industrial users in Europe and North America.

"Vanishing scrap is the concern for us," Forelli said. Europe "lacks the tools" to fight against the long working hours and low labor costs assisting Asian competitiveness, she added.

Marc Natan of Malco SA in France, the president of BIR's Nonferrous Metals Division, defended Europe's scrap industry by insisting that its sales were not confined solely to the wider export markets. While voicing concern for the supply problems encountered by consumers, he also said, "We have to purchase, and we have to sell at realistic prices."

Earlier, Eurometrec President Bjorn Grufman of MV Metallvarden AB in Sweden told delegates, "We know that EU consumers do not like scrap exports because the materials escape E.U. recycling facilities, but we have to defend totally free trade as long as it is fair."

(Additional news about nonferrous scrap, including breaking news and consuming industry reports, is available online at www.RecyclingToday.com.)