In the context of the continuous price decreases in the Chinese scrap market, some mills halted their scrap purchases during the past week. Currently, given the lasting bearishness of the finished steel market, mills are facing great cost pressure and so have moved to lower their raw material prices and to curb their purchase volumes.
Product name |
Specification |
Place of origin |
Price (RMB/mt) |
Weekly change (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly change ($/mt) |
HMS scrap |
> 6 mm |
Jiangsu |
2,280 |
-50 |
334 |
-7 |
Shandong |
2,270 |
-30 |
332 |
-5 |
Last week, China's domestic scrap market remained on its sliding trend, against the background of continuing slackness of commercial activity. At present, mainstream quotations of heavy scrap in Jiangsu Province are in the range of RMB 2,250-2,350/mt ($330-344/mt), while the purchase prices of some mills in this province for shredded scrap have declined RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) to RMB 2,400/mt ($352/mt), with the general prices of heavy scrap in Hebei Province standing around RMB 2,250-2,300/mt ($329-337/mt). Meanwhile, market prices in the northeastern regions are at the level of RMB 2,270/mt ($332/mt).
Still characterized by sluggish demand, the Chinese finished steel market continued to slide down on a weak trend over the past week. As a result, under strong pressure from costs, mills have moved to lower their purchase prices for raw materials and to strictly control their purchase volumes. It is heard that some mills have even completely halted their purchasing activities in recent days. In addition, considering the relatively low cost of pig iron following the previous continuous drop in iron ore prices, most mills prefer to use pig iron in their production, thereby also leading to reduced demand for scrap to a certain extent.