Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States continue to hit record highs, with further upside expected, Fastmarkets understands.

The United States' copper scrap market has been thrown out of balance since the price for the red metal surged above the $4 per lb on Comex this week.

Market growth and decarbonization collide to create an unclear future for steelmaking

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have risen yet again to an all-time high after buyers perceived that the tight availability of spot material likely will not loosen up before domestic mills begin a series of maintenance outages.

Chinese steelmakers looking to replenish steel scrap stocks after returning from their new year holiday on Thursday February 18, have raised bid prices for both domestic and imported material, sources told Fastmarkets.

The prospect of more than 5 million tons of additional flat-rolled steel production starting up in the United States by the end of this year has convinced some market participants that the current run of all-time record-high sheet prices must come to a screeching halt by summer.

China increased refined and unrefined copper imports by over 31% year on year in 2020, whereas scrap inflow shrank significantly, reflecting the import policy change for waste products that came into force at the end of the year.

China has further diversified the list of countries supplying heavy scrap (HS) imports, with recent deals from both South Korea and Singapore, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 10.

Fastmarkets is launching a new daily China ferrous scrap import price assessment on Monday February 8 after a month-long consultation.

Chinese steelmakers have been actively bidding for Japanese import scrap cargoes at prices above the China domestic market level in recent days, sources have told Fastmarkets.