Japan Used Car Ferrous Scrap Recover Rises to 2.14M tonnes in 2006

Japanese ferrous scrap recovering from used automobile increased by 270,000 tonnes to 2.14 million tonnes in 2006 from 2005, according to Japan Ferrous Raw Materials Association. The higher volume was due to higher number of scraping automobiles. The recovering increased by 160,000 tonne to 1.88 million tonnes for shredder scrap and by 60,000 tonnes to 260,000 tonnes for pressed scrap in 2006 from 2005. The treated automobile was 500,000 units through press machine and 3.77 million units through shredder machine in 2006, which was 120,000 units and 430,000 units higher than 2005 respectively. The shredder treatment rate for the all scrap automobile was slightly lower than 2005 and around 15% higher than 2004. The higher shredder rate was apparently due to better competitiveness, for which recycling charge compensates the cost to treat automotive shredder residue under end-of-life vehicle recycling law started January 2005. Japanese used car is treated in domestic scrap facilities and shipped for offshore buyers. The scrapping car increased by 750,000 units to 5.57 million units in 2006 from 2005 while the export as used car increased by 200,000 units to 1.3 million units. The domestic treated used car is shipped to users as high grade heavy scrap and other grade after the treatment including shredder, pressing and shearing.