Proposal to amend frequency of China import steel scrap indices

Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of its China import steel scrap indices to weekly from twice a week currently.

Fastmarkets’ indices for steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr east China and steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr north China have been subject to persistently low liquidity since June 2021. Buying interest for imported steel scrap in China has been low in the past months due to the persistent buy-sell gap between bids and offers for the material, according to market participants.

The specifications for the east China price index, with proposed changes in italics, are as follows:

MB-STE-0889: Steel scrap, index, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr east China, $ per tonne Quality: Cut structural and plate scrap, compliant with China scrap standard HRS101, minimum thickness of 6mm, minimum diameter of 10mm, length less than 1,500mm, width less than 600mm, maximum unit weight 1,500kg
Quantity: Minimum 2,000 tonnes (bulk)
Location: cfr eastern China ports
Timing: 3-10 weeks
Unit: US$ per tonne
Payment terms: Letter of credit on sight
Publication: Weekly, Friday, 5-6pm Shanghai time.

The specifications for the north China price index, with proposed changes in italics, are as follows:

MB-STE-0895: Steel scrap, index, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr north China, $ per tonne Quality: Cut structural and plate scrap, compliant with China scrap standard HRS101, minimum thickness of 6mm, minimum diameter of 10mm, length less than 1,500mm, width less than 600mm, maximum unit weight 1,500kg
Quantity: Minimum 2,000 tonnes (bulk)
Location: cfr northern China ports
Timing: 3-10 weeks
Unit: US$ per tonne
Payment terms: Letter of credit on sight
Publication: Weekly, Friday, 5-6pm Shanghai time.

The consultation period for these proposed amendments starts on Thursday March 31 and will end on Monday May 2. The amendment will then take effect, subject to market feedback, on Monday May 9.

To provide feedback on these price indices, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the prices, please contact Tianran Zhao by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Tianran Zhao re: China scrap import price.’

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to: https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.

What to read next
Information came to light that mill buying offers had been adjusted for July following Fastmarkets’ settlement of these prices on that date, leading to an incorrect published assessment for the following grades: MB-STE-0789 Steel scrap No1 heavy melting, consumer buying price, fob Montreal, Canadian $/net ton was previously published at C$245 ($179.41) per net ton, a C$10 […]
Fastmarkets has corrected its daily AG-PLM-0012 refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein, fob Indonesia price assessment, which was published incorrectly on July 7 due to an input error.
Fastmarkets has had a strong interest in the proposed new assessments and would like to gather additional information on the specification and grades that should assess.  Based on the feedback, the proposed specifications have been updated as follows:  Quality: Selected Nordic (Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian) export grades of both planed and rough sawn timber spruce (whitewood) […]
While Fastmarkets understands that the PIX sawn timber FAS Finland indices have not been widely adopted by the industry, we have received feedback that there is commercial use for the indices. Therefore, we propose to maintain them for the time being.  The following indices are affected:  The extended consultation period for this proposed discontinuation starts […]
To increase the transparency of our methodology, Fastmarkets clarifies that the quotation period of the MHP nickel payable indicator is the month of delivery, or the month M. Any data points Fastmarkets received otherwise will be normalized to the M month based on the monthly spreads of the prevailing exchange-traded Class-1 nickel reference price, or […]
Following an initial consultation with the market and a review of the typical data sets that have been collected over recent months, Fastmarkets is proposing changes to the specifications of the index for MB-IRO-0009 iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao, by raising the silica base specification to 2.7% from 2.2%, as well as an […]