Japanese scrap export offers have risen marginally against last week’s closing. Whereas major Japanese scrap buyer China- has actively booked and already restocked various bulk Japanese cargoes before the holidays. Other prominent Japanese scrap buying countries remain less active, owing to high offers.
SteelMint’s assessment for Japanese H2 scrap export now stands at JPY 45,000/t ($413) FoB, up by JPY 500/t FoB w-o-w.
Japanese scrap prices up in recent deals for China: Japanese scrap prices have moved up further by $5-10/t in recent deals of around 2,500-3,000 t concluded recently at $515/t CFR basis. New offers have increased further and now stand at $525-530/t CFR China. However, before the Golden Week holidays, Chinese mills have raised their bids for Japanese scrap and prices are likely to remain on the higher side in the near term.
Trades to Bangladesh and Vietnam remain less active: Imported scrap offers to other prominent Japanese scrap buyers like Bangladesh and Vietnam have increased further, but trades remained less active in booking fresh bulk scrap cargoes, owing to the disparity in bids and offers. Notably, Japanese suppliers were more involved in making a profit by selling bulk cargoes to China at higher levels.
Offers to Bangladesh and Vietnam have increased w-o-w and are being quoted at $490/t CFR Chittagong and $480/t CFR Vietnam basis respectively, however, no fresh bookings were reported at these levels.
South Korean mills keep away from booking Japanese scrap: Another prominent Japanese scrap buying country- South Korea remains absent as no bids and trades were reported this week. Offers for Japanese H2 were hovering around JPY 45000-46000/t FoB levels to South Korea.
Japanese domestic scrap prices remain unchanged: Japan’s leading steel mill – Tokyo Steel has not made any price revision in scrap purchase this week. As per the last price revision made on 21st April 21, the company is paying JPY 44,000/t for H2-scrap delivered at Tahara and JPY 42,000/t for Utsunomiya works respectively.
Outlook: Vietnam, Japan, and China have around five-day holidays for Golden Week and Labour day which are likely to keep scrap prices on the higher side. On the other hand, trade is expected to pick up post-holidays.
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