WEEKLY: China ferrous scrap supply tightens further

The slow recovery of operations among steel scrap processors in China caused scrap availability in the country last week to tighten further, at a time when scrap demand among steelmakers was growing following the end of the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday on February 4, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During February 5-8, for example, the volume of steel scrap arriving at the 300 blast furnace (BF) and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers under Mysteel's tracking averaged just 262,056 tonnes/day, lower by a substantial 114,330 t/d or 30.4% from the pre-holiday level. Even though China officially reopened for business on February 5,