I Review of Steel Scrap Market

1.Summary of scrap prices in major domestic markets

Scrap: Last Tuesday to Thursday (January 22-26), the domestic scrap prices were stable in most markets and declined in a few markerts. On January 26th, the SteelHome’s HMS Price Index was 3055 yuan/ton, up by 6 yuan/ton compared to the previous Friday. The purchase price of 6-10mm HMS of the leading steel mills in Jiangsu Province remain stable, and their scarp intakes decreased. The scrap purchase price of other steel mills in Jiangsu Province increased by 20-50 yuan/ton. The prices of scrap in Shandong region were mainly stable. The scrap prices in the central and southwestern regions were mainly stable, the scrap prices in the northeastern region were mainly stable, and the scrap prices of in the northern region increased in some markets.

 Table 1: Change of scrap price in main domestic markets (yuan/ton)

Source: SteelHome

2. Scrap inventory and daily consumption of domestic steel mills

According to the survey of SteelHome, as of January 25, the total scrap inventory of 79 invested domestic steel mills was 3.0783 million tons, an increase of 5.48 % week-on-week. The average days available for scrap consumption of these 79 steel mills was 13.1 days, an increase of 0.73 days or 5.88% week-on-week, and the average daily scrap consumption was 2970 tons, an increase of 20 tons or 0.67% week-on-week.

Table 2: Total scrap inventory and average available days of 79 domestic steel enterprises

3. Gap between hot metal cost and scrap price

According to the data of SteelHome, as of January 26, the cost price index of hot metal was 3014 yuan/ton (excluding tax), equivalent to 3406 yuan/ton (including tax), up 31 yuan/ton week on week, and the scrap price index was 3055 yuan/ton, up by 6 yuan/ton week on week. The scrap price was 351 yuan/ton lower than the hot metal cost.

4. Scrap price trend

It is expected that domestic scrap prices will fluctuate slightly within 30 yuna/ton this week.

II Review of Alloy Market

Ferrosilicon: Last week, the prices of ferrosilicon slightly decreased. On January 26th, Steel Home's price index of ferrosilicon was 6585 yuan/ton, a decrease of 59 yuan/ton compared to the previous Friday. The price of semi-coke declined by 40 yuan/ton.

Silicon-manganese: Last week, the prices of silicon-manganese were mainly stable. On January 26th, SteelHome's price index of silicon-manganese was 6330 yuan/ton, down by 13 yuan/ton compared to the previous Friday.

Vanadium: Last week, the price of vanadium based alloys fell by 1,000-4,000 yuan/ton. The bidding price for vanadium nitrogen alloy of steel mills such as Henan Minyuan and Qujing Chenggang ranged from 132,000 to 136,900 yuan/ton, The price of 98 vanadium pentoxide tended to be stable.

Molybdenum: Last week, the price of 60% ferro-molybdenum were stable, while steel mills such as TISCO an Laiwu steel announced their bidding prices to be 213,000 to 215,800 yuan/ton. The prices of 45-47% molybdenum concentrate were stable.

Table 3: Price change of vanadium and molybdenum (unit: yuan/ton)

Source: SteelHome

Table 4: Price change of manganese ore in port (yuan/ton unit)

Source: SteelHome