Chinese mills raise scrap procurement price

The approaching one week long May Day holiday caused local Chinese mills to begin increasing their scrap procurement prices, according to sources. A scrap information center in Russia said local Chinese mills are considering to pile up scrap stocks from the local reserves in China before considering any imports. Heavy melting (HMS) scrap is currently being offered from the CIS countries to China at around $265-270/mt CFR China level nowadays. However, the price of HMS in East China is around $253/mt. Nevertheless, some local mills have already raised their procurement prices to $259/mt. One of the leading steel mills in West China also increased its procurement price for scrap imported from Russia and Kazakhstan by $6/mt to $272/mt. The price of HMS scrap imported from Russia and Kazakhstan to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia was around $210-216/mt in March-end.