South Korea’s leading EAF steelmaker – Hyundai Steel has presented bids for Japanese scrap today. According to reports, the steelmaker has slashed bids for Japanese scrap further by JPY 500/MT (USD 4) during price negotiations. Hyundai’s bids for Japanese H2 dropped to JPY 30,000/MT (USD 266), FoB levels as against the last week’s report of JPY 30,500/MT, FoB.
In line with this, bids for high-grade Shindachi (SB) scrap placed at JPY 38,000/MT (USD 337), FoB, as against JPY 38,500/MT, FoB levels last week.
According to prices maintained with SteelMint, Hyundai Steel’s current import bids for Japanese H2 have moved down to 16-month low levels. This is the lowest price since the first week of Aug’2017 as H2 bids were seen at JPY 29,500/MT on 21st Jul’17.
Hyundai Steel is the largest buyer of Japanese scrap and imports monthly around 200,000-250,000 MT scrap. Its import bidding is a major indicator of the market direction in South East Asia.
South Korean H2 scrap import prices cheaper than domestic lightweight scrap – Hyundai’s recent H2 bid price is equivalent to KRW 320,000/MT (USD 286) on arrival basis which is around KRW 10,000/MT lower than the KRW 330,000/MT (USD 295) levels for lightweight A grade scrap in the Southern region. Leading South Korean steel mills to insist that domestic lightweight A should be lower than imported H2 by KRW 20,000-30,000/MT following which there is still a possibility of a price cut for South Korean domestic scrap prices in upcoming days.
Japan’s leading EAF mini-mill – Tokyo Steel fetches H2 scrap at JPY 30,500/MT (USD 271) for largest plant Tahara and JPY 31,500/MT (USD 279) for Utsunomiya works located in Kanto region. However, there seems still room for the further price decline. Market awaits for Japan’s monthly scrap export tender ‘Kanto Tetsugen’ scheduled on 11th Dec’18.
~ Inputs from SteelDaily
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