As of August 27, steel scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market have moved on a downtrend in some regions, though remaining stable in other regions, week on week, while transaction activity in the overall market has been at low-to-medium levels. Average scrap prices in China’s main markets are presented in the following table.
|
Product name |
Specification |
Origin |
Price |
Price |
Weekly change |
Weekly change |
|
HMS |
> 6 mm |
Tianjin |
2,790 |
394.0 |
-20 |
-2.8 |
|
Liupanshui,Guizhou |
2,600 |
367.2 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
Nanchang,Jiangxi |
2,510 |
354.5 |
-10 |
-1.4 |
||
|
Handan,Hebei |
2,720 |
384.1 |
-25 |
-3.5 |
||
|
Anyang,Henan |
2,670 |
377.1 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
Zhangjiagang,Jiangsu |
2,680 |
378.5 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
Jinan,Shandong |
2,770 |
391.2 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
Average |
2,677 |
378.1 |
-8 |
-1.1 |
All prices are ex-warehouse and include 13 percent VAT.
In the first part of the given week, Chinese steelmakers raised their scrap purchase prices, increasing the scrap supplies arriving at their mills. However, the escalation of US-China trade tensions, the appreciation of the Chinese currency and the downtrend of iron ore prices have negatively affected the scrap market. September is regarded as the traditional peak season for the steel market and can also bolster scrap prices, but this can happen only in the event of higher demand for billet and rebar. For now, sentiments are not so positive and so it is expected that local scrap prices in China will fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.
$1 = RMB 7.08