South Korea: Hyundai Steel Reduces Bids for Japanese Scrap by USD 5/MT

South Korean leading EAF steelmaker Hyundai Steel has further reduced Japanese imported scrap bids for the fourth time in a row since mid of Jan’18. 

South Korea’s leading electric arc furnace steelmaker – Hyundai Steel has further reduced its import prices for Japanese ferrous scrap by Japanese Yen 500/MT (USD 5) today (13th Feb’18). Its latest bid put for H2 grade scrap was at JPY 34,000/MT (USD 316), FoB Japan against its last bid reported on 06 Feb’18 which was at JPY 34,500/MT (USD 321), FoB Japan.

New prices for other grades of scrap are assessed for H1/2 (50:50) at JPY 34,500/MT (USD 321), for both Shredded and HS scrap at JPY 37,000/MT (USD 344), Shindachi scrap at JPY 39,000/MT (USD 362) while Shindachi Press scrap at JPY 40,000/MT (USD 372) on FOB Japan basis respectively.

Prior to this, the steelmaker reduced bids for Japanese scrap successively on 06 Feb’18 and 22nd and 30th Jan’18 by JPY 1000/MT (USD 9) respectively leading to total fall of JPY 3500/MT (USD 33) now, after peak achieved at JPY 37,500/MT in the bids placed on 15th Jan’18 for H2 grade scrap in Japan.

As per reports, Hyundai Steel has discontinued buying ferrous scrap for four days spanning 15-18 Feb’18 during the festivals in three factories. Thus the scrap inventory available with the steel maker is expected to increase further amid maintenance shutdown scheduled in March.

Hyundai Steel is one of the largest buyers of Japanese scrap. According to market participants company imports yearly around 500,000-600,000 MT scrap from Japan.