During the week ending January 20, local steel scrap prices in the Chinese market have seen a declining trend, while transaction activity in the domestic scrap market has slackened again following the temporary recovery seen in the previous week. Average scrap prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, since finished steel and semi-finished steel prices have indicated significant declines, steelmakers have come under pressure to reduce their production costs and so have cut their purchase prices for scrap. The declines in scrap prices have resulted in an unwillingness among traders to sell their scrap materials, contributing to the slackness of transaction activity. The overall sluggish situation in the finished steel market has exerted a negative impact on the scrap market. It is expected that scrap prices in the Chinese domestic market will continue their downtrend in the coming week.