China's imports of ferrous scrap added up to 218,876 tonnes during January-October this year, higher by 9,992 tonnes or 4.8% compared with the same period last year, according to the latest statistics from the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC).
However, the 4.8% on-year rise for the first ten months actually narrowed from the 6.5% on-year increase recorded during January-September, reflecting China's lower steel scrap imports in October alone, Mysteel Global noted.
China's total imports of ferrous scrap fell sharply by 37.9% on month and 12.3% on year to register 17,093 tonnes last month, touching the lowest level in eight months, GACC data showed.
The slump was caused mainly by notable reductions in the country's imports of stainless steel scrap and other alloy steel scrap materials, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, China imported a total of 7,556 tonnes of stainless steel scrap in October, plummeting by 47.1% on month and down by 11.7% compared with the same month last year, according to GACC.
Meanwhile, Chinese scrap users' import appetite for common carbon steel scrap remained weak last month due to the persistently wide gap between the scrap prices in domestic and overseas markets, Mysteel's survey showed.
Mysteel's assessments showed the import price of HS grade scrap from Japan – the largest steel scrap supplier to China – averaged $296.5/tonne in October, higher by some $48/t compared with the average spot transaction price of 6-8mm common carbon steel scrap in East China's Jiangsu province over the same month.
As such, China's ferrous scrap imports from Japan last month plunged 45.9% on month and tumbled 35.1% on year to sit at a 13-month low of 7,138 tonnes, accounting for 41.8% of the total imports, GACC data showed. For January-October, the imports from Japan increased by 2.3% on year to 120,094 tonnes, taking up 54.9% of the total, according to GACC statistics.