Higher scrap prices impact EAF mills’ profit margins

These days, China’s electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers are close to just breaking even on their rebars as the persistently high scrap prices are squeezing their profit margins, Mysteel Global has learned.

“We’re barely making any profits now,”an official from an independent EAF steelmaker from South China’s Fujian province lamented Thursday, pointing out that his mill has to pay more for scrap feeds to keep the furnace operating normally, even though now is the slack season for steel demandwith the frequent rains and high temperatures