Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, China’s largest private steelmaker, has announced that as of March 26 it has cut its scrap purchase prices by RMB 30/mt ($4.2/mt), signaling its ongoing bearish view of the future prospects for the scrap market due to the continuing negative impact of the coronavirus, especially in the global market.
“The operations of the scrap industry will be very difficult in the first half of the year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus,” stated Li Shubin, executive vice president of the China Association of Metalscrap Utilization (CAMU).
Sun Jiansheng, CAMU secretary general, added, “As of March 13, the resumption rate of scrap enterprises has risen from 42 percent from March 7 to 72 percent, while still lower than the 81.39 percent in the iron and steel smelting industry.” “For most scrap enterprises, the more they do, the more they lose,” Mr. Sun said.
According to the forecast made by CAMU, scrap consumption in China will inevitably decline in the first quarter of this year, while it will decrease by 10-15 percent in the full year of 2020.