Over the past week China's scrap market has maintained a sideways trend; however, the outlook for the market still remains poor due to the pessimistic views among domestic mills regarding the prospects for the steel market, as well as the resulting cautiousness of the mills towards scrap purchase activity.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
HMS scrap | > 6 mm | Jiangsu | 2,980 | - | 437 | - |
Shandong | 2,850 | - | 418 | - |
Over the past week China's scrap market has trended sideways. However, the tendency in the market remains weak and it is thought that poor demand will cause the scrap market to move downward in the coming period. Current mainstream quotations of heavy scrap in Jiangsu Province are at the level of RMB 2,920-3,000/mt ($428-420/mt), while the purchase prices in this province for shredded scrap are at RMB 3,000-3,050/mt ($440-447/mt), both unchanged week on week. In Hebei Province, mainstream purchase prices of steel mills for heavy scrap have remained at RMB 2,950-3,000/mt ($433-440/mt). Meanwhile, market prices of heavy scrap in the northeastern region are standing at RMB 2,950-3,050/mt ($433-447/mt), unchanged week on week, with scrap prices in Hubei Province at RMB 3,000-3,100/mt ($440-455/mt).
It is thought that the steel market will continue its fluctuating trend in the near future, with room still available for downward movement. Currently, domestic mills have reduced and even stopped purchases of scrap, focusing on consumption of scrap inventories.