Amid very weak demand from downstream users, coupled with the declining trend in the ferrous metal futures market, scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market have tumbled this week. Local steelmakers have continued to seek lower production costs, remaining skeptical towards future developments in the steel sector. In particular, since July 4 this year, China's largest private steelmaker-Shagang Group has decreased its scrap purchase price by RMB 730/mt ($108/mt), negatively impacting sentiments among market players. Consequently, no trading activity in the import segment has been heard this week, with workable prices for import HS scrap decreasing by around $50/mt to $340-350/mt CFR.
This week, average domestic HMS scrap prices in China have been settled at RMB 2,325/mt ex-warehouse, moving down by RMB 386/mt compared to July 13, 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 |
2,410 |
357.3 |
-345 |
-52.1 |
Liupanshui, Guizhou |
2,225 |
329.9 |
-255 |
-38.7 |
||
Nanchang, Jiangxi |
2,330 |
345.4 |
-410 |
-61.8 |
||
Handan, Hebei |
2,370 |
351.4 |
-400 |
-60.3 |
||
Anyang, Henan |
2,290 |
339.5 |
-440 |
-66.2 |
||
Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu |
2,330 |
345.4 |
-420 |
-63.2 |
||
Jinan, Shandong |
2,320 |
344.0 |
-435 |
-65.5 |
||
Average |
2,325 |
344.7 |
-386 |
-58.2 |
||
Note: Prices include 3 percent VAT as of March 1 2022. |
$1 = RMB 6.7465