SHANGHAI, Mar 10 (SMM) - In February, the domestic steel industry chain gradually recovered. EAF-based steel mills resumed production at a faster pace than steel scrap suppliers, slightly tightening steel scrap supply and forcing most steel mills to raise their purchase prices.

In the overseas market, a large number of blast furnaces that were shut down at the end of last year did not fully resume production in February, while steel consumption recovered rapidly, shoring up steel prices, and steel scrap prices rose along. The catastrophic earthquake in Turkey severely hit local infrastructure facilities, driving the market to temporarily stagnate. Post-disaster reconstruction significantly buoyed up Turkish steel scrap prices, sending its price gap with the Chinese prices to a multi-year low.