As per recent reports, South Korean leading EAF steelmaker, Hyundai Steel has lowered open bids for Japanese scrap by JPY 1000/MT (USD 9) following softening Japanese domestic scrap prices. In bids presented today for Japanese scrap, the company reduced H2 bids to JPY 33,000/MT (USD 296), FoB Japan against JPY 34,000/MT, FoB level last week.
The steelmaker has resumed bids for low-grade Japanese scrap like H 1&2 (50:50) at JPY 33,500/MT and H1 at JPY 34,000/MT, FoB. Bids for medium grade scrap like HS and Shredded assessed at JPY 37,000/MT (USD 332) and for high-grade scrap Shindachi Daichibara (SB) at JPY 38,000/MT, FoB Japan. The price gap between H2 and Shindachi scrap remained at JPY 5,000/MT level against usual of JPY 7,000-8,000/MT.
Japanese scrap suppliers were offering H2 in the range JPY 33,000-34,000/MT, FoB Japan but usually Hyundai Steel present bids for Japanese scrap lower by around JPY 1000/MT than suppliers’ expectations thus, the company could have lowered H2 bids by JPY 1,000 to JPY 33,000/MT, FoB against last week.
Notably, Hyundai’s open bidding has turned many Japanese suppliers active as the steelmaker has participated in the bidding for over 150,000-160,000 MT successively in the last two weeks. It was already expected that the steelmaker would lower bids after getting 100,000 MT Japanese scrap booked last week. This indicates that the supply in Japan’s market remains decent and export offers have already passed short term peak.
Hyundai steel is the largest buyer of Japanese scrap which imports around 2.5 MnT scrap every year comprising around 30% of total Japanese yearly scrap exports. Hyundai’s bidding for Japanese scrap is considered to be the benchmark for East Asian scrap market.
Participants anticipate that bids in Kanto’s monthly scrap export tender likely to decline in April which is scheduled in the next week. However, it will be interesting to see if prices cool down immediately or restocking ahead Golden week holidays for 10 days during 26th April-6th May) will keep sentiments supported.
~Inputs from Steel Daily
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