Japanese scrap prices continued to strengthen on good buying in Vietnam and Taiwan. Due to increased scrap bookings to Taiwan, Vietnam and other markets at strong prices resulted in increase in scrap offers to South Korean mills as well.
As per reports, Japanese scrap export offers to South Korea for H2 scrap currently, are being quoted over JPY 24,500 Fob Japan, with some offers even up to 25,000/MT, moving up by JPY 500-1000/MT as against last week’s level of around JPY 24000/MT FoB Japan. However, no deals were reported at this price level.
Whereas, South Korean buyers bids around JPY 23,500/MT for Japanese H2, as per SteelMint’s reliable source, with Korean buyers trying to resist the sharp increase in offers, looking to push prices down.
On the other hand, Japan’s Tokyo steel has also increased its domestic scrap purchase price for all its five works. The company is now paying JPY 22,500 /MT (USD 209) for H2 scrap delivered at its Tahara plant in Central Japan, while prices for H2 scrap delivery to the Utsunomiya plant in the Kanto region and Okayama plant now stand at JPY 21,000/MT (USD 195) and JPY 20,000/MT (USD 186) respectively.
Japanese export prices have now rebounded to levels last witnessed in later half of Jan’20, over 30% rise in less than 1.5 months. Apart from Overseas buying, good trades at the domestic level have supported Japanese prices for now. Upcoming Kanto Tender results next week will give further clarification on the market direction.
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