Takeaways from OECD Steel Committee Meetings in Paris for the Recycled Materials Industry

From Tuesday, November 4 to Wednesday, November 5, Erin McCoy, ReMA's International Trade Policy Analyst, attended the OECD Steel Committee Meetings in Paris, France, where delegates discussed global steel market conditions and the economic and policy factors shaping the sector.

"This meeting brought together 249 delegates from 43 delegations to tackle the issue of excess steel capacity," McCoy said. "It's important for ReMA to attend with the U.S. as part of the delegation of associations to represent the recycled materials industry and ensure that the industry's voice is heard in these discussions."

Market conditions remain under considerable stress, with nearly all steel-producing countries affected as the industry faces growing excess capacity. The OECD Secretariat presented its latest analysis on market and capacity developments, highlighting trends in production, demand, and investment that will inform the next OECD Steel Outlook, set to be published in 2026.

"One of the issues discussed at the meetings was the importance of working with multilateral development banks," McCoy said. "Many of the global development banks have been financing steel projects abroad, so they've been adding to capacity issues. The committee is working to make sure that the World Bank, the IMF, and others are not contributing to the problem."

The first day of the meetings covered excess steel capacity and the second day focused on raw materials and decarbonization. During the second day, the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) gave a presentation highlighting how recycled materials play a crucial role in this solution.

"Many OECD countries have decarbonization goals to meet by 2030 or 2040 and the recycled materials industry provides a great solution to help meet those goals," McCoy said. "From the OECD data we looked at it, materials are highly concentrated in the U.S., the EU, and China. The U.S. and EU export a lot of materials, but we're seeing China hold onto their recycled materials."

BIR discussed the environmental benefits of recycled materials linked to decarbonization, emphasizing the significant resource and energy savings from using recycled materials compared to primary steel. They also raised an issue ReMA is closely tracking where governments in many parts of the world are mislabeling recycled materials as "waste," creating trade barriers, , especially in southeast Asia.

"Our role is to make sure the recycled materials industry is being accurately represented at these meetings," McCoy said. "ReMA's participation ensures that the industry's perspective on recycled steel availability, trade flows, and its essential role in building a resilient steel supply chain is reflected in the OECD's ongoing work."