Posted on 07 Apr 2022
China's domestic steel scrap market continued strengthening over March 25-April 2, with Mysteel's steel scrap price index increasing by another Yuan 57.3/tonne ($9/t) from March 25 to Yuan 3,869.5/t on delivery and including the 13% VAT as of April 2. Survey respondents attributed the price uptick to the continuing tightness of scrap supplies.
April 2 is a substitute working day in China for the Qingming Festival holiday over April 3-5, Mysteel Global noted.
"The transportation disruptions and restrictive measures or lockdowns in many regions across China continued to challenge the collection, processing and delivery of scrap, which led to the further scrap tightness recently," a Shanghai-based market watcher commented.
On the other hand, Chinese steelmakers were able to enjoy some healthy profits with the improving steel prices, despite the continual rises in steelmaking raw material prices. As a result, most mills still had a steady appetite for scrap, with some raising their buying prices last week to attract more deliveries, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, Shagang Group, a leading electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker in East China's Jiangsu province, had raised its steel scrap procurement prices by a total of Yuan 100/t for all grades on March 29 and April 1 respectively, as reported.
Over March 25-April 1, scrap deliveries to 61 Chinese blast furnace and EAF steelmakers under Mysteel's survey hovered low at 2,925 tonnes/day, while the daily scrap consumption among these sampled mills averaged a higher 3,072 t/d.
In tandem, total stocks of scrap at the 61 surveyed steelworks edged down for the fifth straight week by another 36,900 tonnes or 1.5% on week to 2.47 million tonnes as of March 31, touching a new low since October 2020.
The mills' existing stocks will be sufficient for 13.3 days of daily use based on their present utilization rate, or 0.6 day less than in the previous week, Mysteel's survey results indicated.
As of April 2, China's HRB400E 20mm dia rebar price had increased steadily by Yuan 155/t from March 25 to Yuan 5,145/t and including the VAT, according to Mysteel assessment.
Source:Mysteel Global
