Korean and SE Asian region steel mills continued to book bulk scrap cargoes at slightly increasing price levels, as the market participants anticipated a sharp hike in prices by the end of this month.
After a flurry of bulk bookings to the region earlier this week, the latest deal includes a Korean steelmaker, booking another bulk cargo from the USA west coast, comprising HMS 1 at $ 282/t CFR Korea. This booking is expected to be shipped by early August’20. Previous cargo of US origin HMS 1 was booked at $279/t CFR.
According to sources, buyers in Vietnam and Thailand were inquiring and negotiating for other bulk cargoes, after bookings earlier this week, while offers from most origins look to move up.
The sharp uptrend in Japanese scrap export prices, which have shot up by a sharp JPY 8500/t (almost $80/t) or a 45% increase in less than 2 months, due to tight availability post amid less generation, has taken the buyers in the region by surprise. However, sources confided that Japanese offers are likely to see further rise in coming weeks. Following this, Japanese domestic scrap prices have also witnessed a surge. H2 scrap purchase price in Tokyo Steel’s Utsunomiya works (Kanto region) has increased by JPY 7000/t ($65) in last one month.
On the other hand, offers for alternative origins, also on an upswing, did not witness such a sharp surge, with USA origin HMS and Russian A3 grade offers in bulk climbing up by $25-30/t and $ 35/t respectively, during the same time period.
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