During the given week, scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market have continued to decline, mostly amid the weak performance in the finished steel market. On March 24, Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, China’s largest private steelmaker, has announced another decrease of RMB 50/mt ($7.3/mt) in its scrap purchase price, signalling the prevailing cautious sentiments among market players. However, a further decline in prices might be constrained by a lower arriving of scrap resources, market sources believe.
This week, average domestic HMS scrap prices in China have been settled at RMB 2,809/mt ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 34/mt on average compared to March 22, 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 scrap |
> 6 mm |
Tianjin |
2,780 |
404.4 |
-20 |
-2.8 |
Liupanshui,Guizhou |
2,780 |
404.4 |
0 |
0.1 |
||
Nanchang,Jiangxi |
2,820 |
410.2 |
-40 |
-5.8 |
||
Handan,Hebei |
2,760 |
401.5 |
-60 |
-8.7 |
||
Anyang,Henan |
2,800 |
407.3 |
-50 |
-7.2 |
||
Zhangjiagang,Jiangsu |
2,880 |
418.9 |
-45 |
-6.5 |
||
Jinan,Shandong |
2,840 |
413.1 |
-20 |
-2.8 |
||
Average |
2,809 |
408.5 |
-34 |
-4.8 |
||
Note: Prices include 3 percent VAT as of March 1 2022. |
||||||
Consequently, the workable prices for import scrap have decreased by further $10/mt during the past week to around $405/mt CFR at the highest. With South-Korean customers being ready to book ex-Japan HS scrap at $430/mt FOB, Japanese scrap suppliers have remained mostly out of Chinese market.
$1 = RMB 6.8771