South Korea: Dongkuk Steel Raises Bid for Japanese Scrap Further by USD 9/MT

After witnessing bottoming out of Japanese scrap prices during Chinese New Lunar Year holidays, South Korean Dongkuk steel mill has increased bids for Japanese scrap twice by JPY 1000/MT (USD 9) in a weeks’ time.

South Korea’s leading electric arc furnace steelmaker – Dongkuk Steel has raised its purchase prices for Japanese imported ferrous scrap twice in a weeks’ time. Its latest bid put for special H2 grade was at Japanese Yen 36,500/MT (USD 342), FoB today as against its last bid reported at JPY 35,500/MT (USD 332), CFR on 23rd Feb. Notably, this is the second price hike the company has witnessed after bottoming out of Japanese H2 scrap prices around JPY 34,000-34,500/MT, FoB Japan in mid of Feb’18.

Dongkuk Steel is one of the leading EAF steelmakers with an annual steelmaking capacity of 3.60 MnT and total annual production capacity of 8 MnT out of which 70% are Hot Rolled Products and 30% are Cold Roll Products. According to sources, it consumes around 4-5 MnT of scrap annually.

Hyundai Steel bids for Japanese H2 scrap at JPY 35,500/MT, FoB – South Korea’s leading EAF steelmaker – Hyundai Steel raised its import prices for Japanese ferrous scrap by JPY 1500/MT (USD 14) on 23th Feb’18. Its latest bid put for H2 grade scrap was at JPY 35,500/MT (USD 332), FoB Japan against its last bid reported at JPY 34,000/MT (USD 318), FoB Japan.

Also in a one months’ time, Japanese Yen has appreciated by around 2% against USD. Currently trading at 106.8 Yen against USD which was at Yen 110.1 a month ago.Thus, following Dongkuk steel price hike Hyundai steel also expected to increase Japanese scrap purchase prices in coming days.

Japanese domestic scrap prices increase further – Most of the Japanese suppliers now expect prices to remain robust in coming days over strong global scrap and billet prices. Recently, Japanese domestic scrap prices increased further by JPY 500-1000/MT in major regions. While Tokyo steel keeps H2 scrap prices unchanged since 7th Feb at JPY 37,000/MT(USD 347) at largest work in central Japan-Tahara.

Last assessed price for Japanese H2 scrap was at JPY 35,500/MT (USD 332), FoB Japan while New Cutting (Press) price was assessed around JPY 38,500/MT (USD 360), FoB Japan.