Power concerns ripple across China’s scrap market, import activity wanes

Widening blackouts in China to meet the state’s tighter emissions standards and the subsequent forced shutdowns of local steelmaking mills have continued to weigh on the general situation in the scrap segment. Although some scrap customers in China have this week increased their bids for scrap to secure material, the pattern appears to be temporary and has been supported mostly by the approach of major Chinese steelmaker Shagang Group. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, on September 27 the company raised its scrap purchase prices by RMB 50/mt ($7.7/mt).
Meanwhile, interest in imports has dwindled to almost zero. “The situation is extremely bad here now in China. With dire electricity shortages prevailing in all main industrial provinces, nobody dares to buy imports now,” the leading China-based trader commented with regard to the current developments in the market. While Japanese scrap suppliers are barely interested in selling scrap at lower than $600-610/mt CFR, up $10-20/mt compared to levels heard a week ago, Chinese customers are seeking to secure material not higher than $520-530/mt CFR.

On balance, average domestic HMS scrap prices in China have increased to RMB 3,776/mt ($584.5/mt) ex-warehouse, up RMB 36/mt compared to September 22, according to SteelOrbis’ information.

Average scrap prices in China’s main markets are presented in the following table.

 $1 = RMB 6.4662