Market chatter about China possibly imposing new export taxes for steel as part of commodity price cooling measures has been rampant in the past week, causing traders and market participants to re-think their trading strategies, and overseas buyers to consider a potential supply shortfall.

A handful of recent cargoes of shredded steel scrap have successfully cleared through Chinese ports, raising hopes across the market that China may start to import more of this key material grade in the near future.

Turkish steel scrap import prices have so far held firm despite a sharp drop in China’s steel and scrap markets this week.

Cooling sentiment in the entire ferrous supply chain in Asia has cooled import prices for containerized ferrous scrap in the key Taiwanese market, sources said on May 21.

Import prices for steel scrap to Bangladesh continued to rise during the week to Thursday May 20, with buyers increasingly searching for tonnages, sources told Fastmarkets.

Surging steel demand in the majority of global markets pushed prices up in most regions in the week to Friday May 14. Only the United States deep-sea ferrous scrap market remained inactive, while Chinese scrap prices fell victim to softer prices for finished steel products.

Global steel scrap prices surged in the week to Friday May 7 and could well break through the $500 per tonne cfr mark, starting in Asia, market sources have told Fastmarkets.

China’s new and stricter steel capacity swap ratios will cool the overheated steelmaking raw materials market and pave the way for more electric-arc furnaces to be used in its mammoth steel industry, market sources told Fastmarkets this week.

Import prices for ferrous scrap in Vietnam increased during the week to Friday May 7 on bullish sentiment in the spot market, and could break the $500-per-tonne-cfr-Vietnam mark for bulk cargoes, industry sources told Fastmarkets.

China's new tax regime for ferrous raw materials and steel exports will kick off a new era for the steel sector, one in which demand and supply will become more balanced and the country cuts its dependency on iron ore at a faster pace.