China’s scrap price remains high in short term

After the Lantern Festival, China’s steel makers increased their demand for scrap to refill their inventories, so the scrap prices went up. Last week, the capacity utilization rate of 87 China’s independent electric arc furnaces (EAF) steel mills increased by 19.78% week on week to 23.33%. The production and growth were higher compared to the same period last year. Recently, demand for downstream finished steel products gradually increased; however, the scrap supply was still at a low level. As a result, scrap prices would still be at a high level in the short term.