CHINA STEEL SCRAP: Buyers consider higher bids amid renewed purchasing interest

“Buyers in the northeast can bid as high as $485-500 per tonne cfr China,” a trader in China told Fastmarkets.

A buyer source at a south China-based steel mill said he was willing to purchase at $480-500 per tonne cfr China for small quantities of trial cargoes.

Other buyers in east China maintained bids at $470 per tonne cfr, while those in northeast China bid at $480-490 per tonne cfr. There have even been bids heard at $495 per tonne cfr China by traders.

Offers remained at $500-505 per tonne cfr China, with Japanese and South Korean scrapyards unwilling to give discounts.

A Chinese seller with port inventories of HRS101 is also holding firm.

“I expect a positive environment for the rest of April and in May, so I will wait to sell,” he said.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr China was $475-480 per tonne on Friday April 9, unchanged day on day.

Higher domestic prices have supported the bullish sentiment in the import markets.

Some Chinese steel mills have raised their purchase prices for domestic scrap because of low inventories and a high steel production rate. There remains a few mills that have maintained their purchase prices after seeing the weakening steel price trends over the past few days.

“Domestic scrap prices may rise further next week because mills have strong demand and April is a peak month for steel production,” a trader in eastern China said.

Fastmarkets’ assessment for steel scrap heavy scrap domestic, delivered mill China was at 3,290-3,470 yuan ($502-530) per tonne on April 9, widening upward by 80 yuan per tonne from 3,290-3,390 yuan per tonne a week earlier, due to a mill raising its price by 100 yuan per tonne to 3,470 yuan per tonne on Thursday.

In Asia, the higher April Kanto Tetsugen auction results have supported prices in Asia.

Four 5,000-tonne parcels were sold to traders at an average of ¥43,380 (396.38) per tonne fas, with all of them bound for Vietnamese buyers.

Sellers offered bulk Japanese H2 at $455-460 per tonne cfr Vietnam, refusing to give discounts.

Sellers have also increased offers for bulk Japanese H1&H2 (50:50) cargoes to $460-465 per tonne cfr Taiwan, up from $443-450 per tonne cfr Taiwan in the earlier part of the week.

Taiwanese buyers have secured sufficient containerized heavy melting scrap (HMS) 1&2 (80:20) cargoes at $413-415 per tonne cfr this week.