South East Asian countries remained less active in the imported scrap market last week, while offers continued to follow the global price uptrend. Indonesian scrap buyer mostly stayed away from the market, owing to holidays last week, while Thailand based buyers are in trouble to place new bookings in heavy monsoon.
Vietnam offers up, few bookings reported: Imported scrap offers for Japanese scrap stands steady in a week’s time, while offers for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) have moved up on a weekly basis. There was news heard on bulk US scrap booking at $312/t CFR concluded in mid of last week, however, it could not be confirmed at the time of publishing this article.
- Offers for Japanese bulk H2 currently stands at around $310 /t CFR level. Some deals have been concluded at around $308/t levels last week.
- US origin bulk HMS 1&2 (80:20) is being offered at around $315/t CFR Vietnam, up by $2-3 w-o-w.
- SteelMint’s assessment for Japanese bulk H2 stands steady at $309/t, CFR Vietnam level, whereas assessment for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) stands at $315/t CFR level, up by $5 w-o-w.
Vietnam’s crude steel production to rise by 5% in CY’20: The country’s total crude steel production has expected to reach 18.34 mn t in the year CY’20 Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) predicts. However, the growth rate has expected to decrease to 5% compared to 13% in the previous year. Vietnam’s crude steel production in CY’19 stood at 17.46 mn t, according to Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) data.
Steel mills absent in market owing to holidays in Indonesia: In the last week of October, Indonesian market remains unchanged compared to last two weeks. Many mills were absent in the market as they are on holiday on Prophet’s Birthday from 28th to 30th Oct’20. Whereas, imported scrap offers as compared to the preceding week, while buyers’ price idea is far from the offer price.
Recent offers-
- PNS in 20ft container: $315-317/t CFR Jakarta
- PNS in 40ft container: $310/t CFR Jakarta
- Busheling in 20ft container: $327- 328/t CFR Jakarta
- Shredded 211: $310/t CFR Jakarta
- Blue Steel: $327-328/t CFR Jakarta
US extends GSP status for Indonesia: Indonesia has retained its status as a beneficiary of the United States’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), highlighted by foreign minister Retno LP Marsudi. Indonesia is one of 120 countries that has benefited from the GSP (Generalized System of Preferences), the oldest and largest US trade preference program. She expects strong trade relations between Indonesia and the US will be a catalyst for increased investment between the two countries.
Imported scrap offers to Thailand up further: Due to heavy rainfall and bad weather across the country many steel mills mostly remained silent for the last few weeks, while imported scrap offers continued to up w-o-w.
- American origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was quoted at $275/t CFR level last week, up by $8/t against the previous week.
- Billet import offers in the country saw a sharp rise and were noted to be at $455/t, CFR, up by $10 against last week.
Scrap imports up by 32% m-o-m: Thailand’s imported scrap has increased considerably by 32% m-o-m in Sep’20. The country has imported around 133,522 t of scrap in Sep’20 as compared to 100,801 t imported a month ago in Aug’20. USA remained the largest scrap exporter with 47,039 t of scrap exported to Thailand, as per customs data maintained with SteelMint.
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