During the week ending September 22, local steel scrap prices in the Chinese market have mostly indicated a decreasing trend, just remaining stable in Tianjin city and in Jiangxi Province, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at decent levels. Average scrap prices in China’s main markets are presented in the following table.
During the given week, amid the downtrend in the finished steel market, domestic steelmakers have continued to exert pressure on traders’ scrap prices in order to limit their production costs, resulting in the ongoing downtrend of scrap prices in many regions of the country. As the Mid-Autumn Festival (September 26-27) and National Day Holiday (October 1-7) are approaching, steelmakers will likely step up their scrap purchases, which will provide a certain degree of support for scrap prices. However, the weak performance of the finished steel market will restrict any upward movement of scrap prices. It is expected that scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market will move on a stable trend in the coming week.
| Product Name | Spec. | Origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
| HMS scrap | > 6 mm | Tianjin | 1,380 | 217 | 0 |
| Liupanshui | 1,330 | 209 | ↓20 | ||
| Zhangjiagang | 1,350 | 212 | ↓10 | ||
| Handan | 1,350 | 212 | ↓30 | ||
| Nanchang | 1,350 | 212 | 0 | ||
| Anyang | 1,330 | 209 | ↓20 | ||
| Jinan | 1,350 | 212 | ↓30 | ||
| Average | 1,349 | 212 | ↓15 |
All prices include 17 percent VAT and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = RMB 6.37