During the week ending June 17, prices in the main local steel scrap markets in China have indicated downward movement, while transaction activity in the market has been poor. Average scrap prices in the local Chinese market can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, domestic steelmakers decreased their ex-works prices for finished steel influenced by the declining trends seen in the spot markets, and so they have also been pushing for lower scrap prices. Meanwhile, the ongoing decline in semi-finished steel prices has exerted a negative impact on scrap prices. Traders are unwilling to build up their scrap inventories and so overall inventories in the domestic scrap market have declined. It is expected that domestic scrap prices in China will continue to move on a soft trend due to the unfavorable conditions in the steel markets.