London Calling to BIR Members

Recyclers from around the world will have no shortage of topics to discuss when they gather in London for the 2004 Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Autumn Round-Table Sessions.

BIR boards and committees will be hosting meetings and sessions on Thurs., Oct. 28, and Fri., Oct. 29 at the Hilton London Metropole Hotel and Conference Centre, located in central London near the city’s famous Paddington Station.

Among the organization’s boards and committees that will meet on Oct. 28 are the Nonferrous, Stainless Steel & Special Alloys, Textiles, Paper and Shredder Boards. Additionally, the BIR New Projects Committee, Ambassadors Committee and Young Traders Group will meet on the 28^th.

On Friday, Oct. 29, the BIR Ferrous Board, the Media Metal Separation Board and the International Environmental Council will meet, while additional round-table sessions will cover plastics and tire recycling.

Recyclers will have a chance to network at several Autumn Round-Table functions, including a Welcome Reception held at the King’s Suite of the Hilton Metropole on Thursday evening.

Attendees arriving in London before the event can also sign up for a dinner cruise through central London on a restaurant cruise boat operated by Bateaux London. The evening event will feature a live band and a four-course a la carte menu featuring international cuisine.

Delegates are likely to head to the London event in the midst of active trading markets for most recycled commodities. In the September issue of its BIR World Mirror newsletter, BIR delegates report strong demand for ferrous scrap in almost every part of the globe, and some delegates even paint encouraging long-term pictures.

“Current annual production of 35 million metric tons is expected to increase to 63 million metric tons by 2012 and to 100 million metric tons by 2020,” says BIR Ferrous Division board member Ikbal Nathani regarding the steel industry in India.

“Over the next three to five years, domestic demand for steel scrap could increase by 5 to 7 million tons per year, such that in just a few years, Russia could reduce its exports and might even become a scrap importer,” writes Denis Ilatovskiy, vice president of the BIR Ferrous Division.

John Neu of Hugo Neu Schnitzer Global Trade, New York, says, “The U.S. steel industry is in extraordinarily good shape to compete against imports” in part, he writes, because “producer liquidity is better today than for many decades. It is expected that producers will try to sustain maximum production in any market.”

And a report from Italy’s Alocci Ruggero sees an active close to 2004 for European scrap dealers. “The fourth quarter is expected to begin with strong upward price pressure throughout the entire steel supply chain,” he writes. “Italian mills are working hard to satisfy steel demand.”

Those interested in attending the BIR Autumn Round-Table Sessions can download registration information through the BIR Web site at www.bir.org.