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.

Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have increased sharply since China decided to remove the export tax rebate on some steel products. But demand among major scrap importers in Asia was still limited because of upcoming holiday periods in the region.

The world is looking for cleaner metallics. That has been the undeniable tenor from the steel industry for months. The United States already makes a majority of its steel via the cleaner electric-arc furnace production method, and European steelmakers have announced similar investments. In China, the government is cracking down on high-polluting steel output, and it recently announced the removal of import tariffs on clean metallics such as ferrous scrap and pig iron.

Sustained demand for containerized ferrous scrap imports in the key Taiwanese market should continue to support prices in the near term, market sources told Fastmarkets.

As the US steel market continues to build up steam, can the promise of new capacity in 2021 lead the way to a steel price correction?

China imported 31,496 tonnes of steel scrap in March of 2021, with 20,493 tonnes, or 65.1% coming from Japan, according to the country's General Administration of Customs.