South-East Asia’s imported scrap market has remained less active with a majority of market participants keeping away amidst ongoing New Year holidays. South East Asia’s leading scrap importer, Vietnam, witnessed continuous silence for yet another week. Sluggish demand from the domestic market and rise in Covid cases persisted as the main reasons behind the silent market.
- Fresh offers for bulk Japanese H2 were at $480/t CFR Vietnam, inching down by $3 w-o-w.
- US-origin bulk HMS price indications are assessed at around $495-500/t CFR Vietnam levels, down by a further $5/t w-o-w.
Domestic scrap prices overview: H1 and H2 grades are now set at VND 11,400-11,450/kg ($495-497/t) and VND 11,100/kg ($482/t) levels respectively, unchanged w-o-w.
Vietnam’s BF-route billets export offers stood flat at $620/t, FOB and no deals were heard to be concluded last week.
“Increased Covid cases have impacted the market, especially in Hanoi city,” said a Vietnam-based market player. The country reported 16,948 new Covid-19 cases on 2 Jan’22 with the highest number of cases being seen in the capital city of Hanoi.
Other South East Asian scrap buyers like Thailand and Indonesia are closed till 3 Jan’22, on account of new year holidays. Hence, officially, operations will resume tomorrow. However, market activities are expected to remain slow on negative sentiments. Last imported scrap offers to Thailand for HMS 1 and 2 (80:20) from Central America were heard at $415-418/t CFR.
Outlook
Vietnamese mills may become active in booking imported scrap ahead of the approaching Tet holidays in Feb’22.
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