Growing steel demand presents an opportunity for a scrap pricing supercycle in the next decade, writes Bill Beck, reporting on the Fastmarkets virtual Scrap, DRI, and Mini-Mills conference in mid-April.

With long steel prices in Europe reaching historically high levels, construction activity is slowing in some regions due to reduced supplies and delays, with some market sources fearing a decline in industrial activity long term.

Prices for steel scrap imported into China rebounded after bullish sentiment dominated Chinese steel markets on Friday June 11, sources told Fastmarkets.

Buyers of bulk cargoes of scrap imports in the key Southeast Asian market of Vietnam were largely on the sidelines during the week to Friday June 11, due to falling domestic scrap and steel prices in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.

An accident at Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, in which a tower crane collapsed on Thursday June 3 will likely have minimal impact on discharge rates for containerized ferrous scrap in the coming days, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Mammoth steel-scrap margins and high-grade premiums prevalent in recent months are likely to persist in the short term but should fall away by the end of the year, panelists at the ferrous session of this week’s Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Convention said.

Five grades of steel scrap will no longer need to undergo customs inspections at ports in China when they are imported into the country, beginning on June 10.

Fastmarkets invites feedback on its Taiwan steel scrap price assessment as part of its annual methodology review process, in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) principles for price reporting agencies.

Global steel scrap prices dropped in the week to Friday May 28 on poor sentiment resulting from a weaker Chinese market and a softening of the Turkish market.

Import prices for ferrous scrap in Vietnam continued to fall in the week to Friday May 28 due to sentiment weakened by plunging steel prices in China recently.