Japan’s scrap export prices have been mostly stable throughout the week. However, trade is mostly absent due to the absence of active buyers in the market. Market sentiments are yet to turn supportive for scrap suppliers. Due to the Tet holidays, Vietnamese buyers have been out of the market. Meanwhile, China’s scrap and futures markets are closed amid the Lunar New Year holidays.
SteelMint’s assessment for Japanese H2 scrap export prices stand at JPY 51,000-52,000/t ($392-400/t) FOB, unchanged w-o-w.
Further, Japan’s crude steel output stood at 89.23 million tonnes (mnt) in 2022, down 7.4% y-o-y, according to data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on 23 January, 2023.
In December, crude steel output stood at 6.89 mnt, down 13% as against 7.9 mnt in the same month of the previous year.
Buyers silent:
- South Korea: South Korean mills have witnessed a limited number of deals concluded with Japan. Many mills were active in booking domestic material but major mills like Hyundai Steel have not placed bids this week for Japanese material.
In addition, POSCO has completed the restoration of all 17 of its rolling mills at the Pohang steel mill and will resume normal operations soon. The company plans to complete its disaster preparedness system in line with the recommendations of the joint public-private steel supply and demand investigation team, focusing on stabilising production and improving the efficiency of normally operating equipment.
- Vietnam: Vietnamese steel producers were inactive due to the Tet holidays. However, indicative offers for US-origin bulk HMS were at $460/t CFR levels, while bid prices were lower by $20/t to $440/t. Further, indicative pricing for Japanese H2 material was at $450/t CFR Vietnam; however, bids were at $430/t. Trade is expected to resume after 30 January.
Japan’s leading EAF steel producer, Tokyo Steel, kept scrap purchase prices unchanged for the second successive week. After the last revision, prices of H2 scrap stood at JPY 51,000/t ($387/t), delivered to the Tahara, Utsunomiya, and Okayama plants.
The company has announced its financial results for the April-December 2022 period. The company’s net sales stood at JPY 272.35 billion, up 42.3% y-o-y. Ordinary income rose by 42.3% to JPY 34.1 billion and net income by 39.5% to JPY 29,396 million during the period.
Sales and profits peaked since the April-December 2008 period, despite further increases in energy costs and lower-than-expected steel scrap prices, supported by strong domestic demand and effective company-wide cost reduction efforts which resulted in higher sales and profits.
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