China imports 27,583 tonnes of steel scrap over Jan-Feb

For February alone, China's scrap imports increased by 13.8% on month to around 14,682 tonnes, though it was still lower than last December's 28,950 tonnes, according to the GACC data.

"Although the on-year growth in scrap imports over January-February was significant, Chinese steelmakers' buying interest for overseas scrap material actually cooled down over the past two months," a Shanghai-based market watcher told Mysteel Global.

Chinese steel mills' subdued enthusiasm had to do with their demand for scrap feeds amid the frequent clampdown on steel output, according to her.

For some integrated steel mills, especially those in northern areas of China, the frequent production curbs imposed by local governments before and during Winter Olympic Games over February 4-20 had forced them to rein in output.

As for most electric-arc-furnace steelmakers across the country, they had switched off their furnaces early ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday in late January and delayed their production resumption to enjoy a longer holiday, as reported.

Consequently, China's total steel scrap consumption among 211 domestic mills under Mysteel's survey totaled 2.13 million tonnes and 2.37 million tonens in January and February respectively, both of which were lower than 2.7 million tonnes for last December.

On the other hand, the widening price disparity between overseas and Chinese offers had also prevented domestic scrap buyers from tabling fresh orders, Mysteel Global noted.

For example, by the end of February, China's spot transaction price of the 6-8mm common-grade carbon steel scrap in Zhangjiagang, East China's Jiangsu province, reached Yuan 3,180/tonne ($500/t) and excluding the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's data.

And during the same period, Mysteel Global heard that bidding prices for Japanese H2 scrap materials were around $550/t CFR.

Written by Lindsey Liu, liulingxian@mysteel.com

Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com