Steel Scrap Prices Rise amid Imbalance Between Supply and Demand

SHANGHAI, Feb 22 (SMM) - On January 21, the prices of steel scrap across the country increased. Among them, the prices in east China increased 30-50 yuan/mt; that in Yunnan dipped 20-30 yuan/mt; that in central China rose 50 yuan/mt; that in south China and north China remained stable. It is certainty that the supply and demand relationship is improving.

On the supply side, the rising prices of steel scrap made traders cautious in delivering, and thus it was hard for steel mills to pick up goods in low prices. On the demand side, according to SMM research, the operating rates of EAF steel mills continued to rise 4.67 percentage points to 44.3% as the sales improved. However, the insufficient steel scrap supply caused most enterprises to fail to increase the production. In the short term, the prices of steel scrap may rise further amid the imbalance between the supply and demand.