China imported 274,603 mt of scrap steel in August at a total price of $218.4 million. The August figures are higher by 73,100 mt in quantity and by $34.2 milion in value than the figures for July. Meanwhile, China's total scrap imports in the January-August period this year reached 2.11 million mt at a total cost of $1.53 billion.
In the month of August, Kazakhstan was China's biggest scrap supplier, providing 59,803 mt at a cost of $17.18 million. However, the most expensive scrap China imported was from the US, spending $30.44 million for 12,361 mt. In terms of quantity, Kazakhstan was followed by Spain (46,062 mt), Japan (33,404 mt), Australia (18,250 mt), Holland (13,757 mt) and finally the US (12,361 mt). In terms of value, Spain ranked first ($33.62 million); followed by Japan ($33.54 million), the US ($30.44 million) and Holland ($24.9 million).
Through January-August, China's total scrap steel imports reached 2.11 million mt worth a total of $1,525,049,801. In this period, 328,892 mt of scrap was imported from Japan (worth $262.85 million), 292,789 mt (worth $124.65 million) from the Phillippines, 234,596 mt ($166.65 million) from Spain, 225,371 mt ($58.4 million) from Kazakhstan, 161,833 mt ($111.59 million) from Australia, 122,605 mt ($79.72 million) from Malaysia and 109,561 mt ($320.57 million) from the US.