JFE Steel to buy high-quality scrap
Japanese steel producer JFE Steel plans to buy high-quality
scrap as part of its plans to step up
production.
JFE Steel, which reportedly stopped supplying
scrap to its affiliates due to a material shortage, will look to acquire the high-quality
scrap from the domestic market. The
scrap purchases will allow JFE to increase
production without investing in new plants.
However, JFE is likely to face stiff competition from another Japanese steel producer, Nippon Steel Corp, which buys an average of 2 million tons of
scrap from the domestic market each year.
Analysts forecast that JFE's intended
scrap purchase will cause
scrap availability to tighten, thus driving prices up.