China mills increase their winter scrap stockpiling as availability decreases.

According to the results of Mysteel's most recent survey, the lack of interest Chinese steelmakers once showed in stockpiling steel scrap for the winter is gradually giving way to eagerness as mills are rushing to acquire scrap in order to guarantee that they have enough feedstock for production all winter long.

According to a market analyst based in Shanghai, "winter is typically a slack season for scrap consumption in China, but this year, the actual market performance remains warm."

"In the last two months, domestic mills have increased their utilisation of scrap by approximately 30% after realising its strong cost-effectiveness," she continued. She also forecasted that the mills' eagerness to produce will probably persist in January since they are still making healthy profits.

Meanwhile, the winter cold is making it more difficult to transport scrap materials and to collect and process scrap on location, according to reports.

Mysteel Global discovered that a large number of steelmakers from East, North, and Central China are having trouble finding steel scrap. According to the survey results, most mills aim to build up enough inventory to last 10–30 days, but because of the scarcity of scrap, this is not happening as planned.

For instance, steel scrap inventories in scrapyards and ports in Jiangsu province, East China, the nation's primary hub for the consumption of steel scrap, are still low, and orders have already been accepted for a portion of the available stocks, the Shanghai analyst said.