Machine Learning-Based Scrap Steel Price Forecasting for the Northeast Chinese Market

Throughout history, governments and investors have relied on predictions of prices for a broad spectrum of commodities. Using time-series data covering 08/23/2013–04/15/2021, this study investigates the challenging problem of predicting scrap steel prices, which are issued daily for the northeast China market. Previous research has not sufficiently taken into account estimates for this significant commodity price measurement. In this instance, Gaussian process regression methods are created using Bayesian optimisation approaches and cross-validation processes, and the resulting price forecasts are constructed. This empirical prediction methodology provides reasonably accurate price estimates for the out-of-sample period from 09/17/2019 to 04/15/2021, with a root mean square error of 9.6951, mean absolute error of 5.4218, and correlation coefficient of 99.9122%. Governments and investors can arrive at informed decisions regarding regional scrap steel markets by using pricing research models.