Demand from basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs) and the bottoming out of steel prices in China have kept domestic ferrous scrap prices in the country's eastern region unchanged for the past three weeks.
Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of prices for domestic heavy scrap of no less than 6-8mm in thickness delivered to mills in east China stood at 2,300-2,530 yuan ($364-400) per tonne on Friday February 9, unchanged for a third week. The country's biggest ferrous scrap consumer Shagang made its last price adjustment on January 16 when it lowered its purchase price by 60 yuan per tonne. That brought the amount of its price cuts over a three-week period to 280 yuan per tonne. The mill, located in the eastern Jiangsu province, had raised its purchase prices by a total of 940 yuan per tonne between mid-October and late December. It was paying as much as 2,680 yuan per tonne for heavy scrap of thicknesses of no less than 6mm delivered to its facility - the highest in...