CHINA STEEL SCRAP: Pre-holiday restocking pushes up domestic prices

China's domestic prices for steel scrap surged last week amid replenishment by steel mills and a tightening supply of raw materials.

Fastmarkets' assessment for steel scrap heavy scrap domestic, delivered mill China was at 3,230-3,240 yuan ($498-500) per tonne on Friday, up by 110-230 yuan per tonne from 3,000-3,130 yuan per tonne a week earlier.
Steel mills actively bought scrap in the past couple of weeks to stock up for consumption around the Chinese New Year. China observes a weeklong holiday from February 11 to mark the occasion.
"Steel mills plan to build up bigger inventories than those in the corresponding period of last year because they expect scrapyards to start their holiday early," an industry analyst said.

A trader in eastern China concurred, saying that some scrapyards had plans to begin their holiday - leaving only a few people on duty - from January...

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