Downtrend to persist in next 3 months

摘要

Despite the plans to increase sales prices for longs in March-April amidexpected seasonal growth in demand, mills will still try to cut buyingprices for scrap, given the substantial margin reduction in January-February. In May the competition will significantly strengthen in thedomestic rebar market due to redirection of export volumes. Therefore,the quotes will remain unchanged and this factor will have stabilizingeffect on the steel scrap market, considering acceptable profitability.We expect export quotes for square billet to constantly go down inMarch-May, so the steelmakers who focus on external markets will seeklower scrap prices.