Hyundai Steel lowered its scrap purchase bids for Japanese material today compared to the previous bid on 20 December 2022, as per sources.
The steelmaker has presented bids for higher grade material including H2 at JPY 49,000/t, down by JPY 1,000/t against the last bid. The bid is for February shipment deals.
The rise in domestic scrap prices could likely be the reason behind the decrease in bid for Japan- and USA-origin material.
Since the company had already booked sizeable volumes in the last week’s deal, it was anticipated that its bid price would decline slightly, as per SteelDaily report.
It is to be noted that Hyundai’s bid price is taken as the benchmark for Japanese scrap import prices.
The third week of December saw an abrupt increase in scrap prices, which had previously seen a slow rise. Scrap prices bottomed out between end-November and the first week of December but then held steady for over three weeks.
The approaching year-ending and sufficient inventory serve as the foundation for expert projections.
Inventory with South Korean mills
Eight steel makers had around 870,000 tonnes of inventory in the second week of December before the price increase was announced.
The inventory depletion became even more severe in the third week of December, as it totalled to roughly 100,000 t loss in only one week.
Outlook
Steelmakers might be able to survive until the end of the year, but considering the reduction in distribution, they could not hold back bookings in the beginning of 2023 owing to the Lunar New Year vacation.
Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelDaily and SteelMint.
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