With the ongoing downtrend in the rebar futures market in China, coupled with the recent typhoon Muifa which exerted a negative impact on the steel market, sentiments in the scrap segment have become again somewhat bearish. Consequently, this week local scrap prices have declined almost in all regions in China, pulling bids for import scrap down likewise. The support from low inventories of scrap inside the country may be short term. However, some improvement with regard to buying activity is expected in the near future as the National Day holiday (October 1-7) is approaching. Meanwhile, trading activity in the import segment has remained constrained by the mismatch between offers and bids. Specifically, although ex-Japan HS scrap offers have lost $10-15/mt from the previous week to around $420-425/mt CFR China, Chinese buyers are not ready to start negotiations with prices above $400/mt CFR.
Average domestic HMS scrap prices in China are at RMB 2,803/mt ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 21/mt compared to September 14, according to SteelOrbis’ information.
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 |
2,870 |
413.1 |
-25 |
-6.9 |
|
Liupanshui, Guizhou |
2,760 |
397.3 |
0 |
-3.1 |
||
|
Nanchang, Jiangxi |
2,800 |
403.1 |
0 |
-3.2 |
||
|
Handan, Hebei |
2,830 |
407.4 |
0 |
-3.2 |
||
|
Anyang, Henan |
2,780 |
400.2 |
-60 |
-11.8 |
||
|
Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu |
2,780 |
400.2 |
-30 |
-7.5 |
||
|
Jinan, Shandong |
2,800 |
403.1 |
-30 |
-7.5 |
||
|
Average |
2,803 |
403.5 |
-21 |
-6.2 |
||
|
Note: Prices include 3 percent VAT as of March 1 2022. |
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$1 = RMB 6.9116