During the week ending January 13, local steel scrap prices in the Chinese market have indicated a stable trend, while transaction activity in the domestic scrap market has seen some improvement following the sluggishness observed in the previous week. Average scrap prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Due to a decline in scrap inventories on the steelmakers' side, some medium-sized and large domestic steelmakers have increased their purchases of scrap during the given week and so scrap prices started to move on a stable trend following the previous downtrend of prices. The rebound in futures prices of rebar, wire rod and iron ore in the previous week has not continued in the past week, weakening support for the spot markets. Accordingly, the spot prices of rebar, wire rod and semi-finished steel in China have softened again, exerting downward pressure on scrap prices. It is expected that scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market will move on a slight downtrend again in the coming week.