Vietnam, one of the major importers of ferrous scrap from East Asia, has witnessed a very sharp rise in scrap imports in Q2 CY’19, on account of aggressive restocking made amid supportive finished steel margins, after quite a lukewarm trade activity witnessed in the preceding quarter. The country imported 1,420,262 MT ferrous scrap in Q2 CY’19, up 80% Q-o-Q as against 786,382 MT recorded in Q1 CY’19, the recent data released by the customs department showed.
On yearly premises, imports were noted to rise by 57% Y-o-Y as against 902,623 MT in Q2 CY’18.
Vietnam’s imported scrap offers from Japan dropped all through the 2nd Quarter. While the average price for bulk imports of HMS from USA and bulk H2 scrap from Japan, had dropped to around USD 315-320/MT,CFR in April’19, the same fell by another USD 10/MT successively in the next 2 months and remained hovering at around USD 305-310/MT and USD 295-300/MT in May’19 and Jun’19 respectively.
Country-wise – Japan remained the largest scrap supplier in Q2 CY’19 and exported 479,866 MT ferrous scrap occupying a share of 34% in total imports, rising by 25% Q-o-Q as against 382,846 MT in Q1 CY’19.
USA occupied the 2nd position, increasing scrap exports to Vietnam by 180% Q-o-Q as the country supplied 312,819 MT in Q2 CY’19 with a share of 22%, while Australia maintained 3rd position with a 12% share as it supplied 175,638 MT in Q2 CY’19, rising by 168% Q-o-Q.
Followed by other prominent suppliers were UK (122,766 MT) and Hong Kong (97,524 MT, up 11% Q-o-Q) with 9% and 7% of share respectively.
On a monthly premises, the imports dropped 25% M-o-M in June’19 and were recorded at 352,013 MT, as against 470,638 MT in May’19.
Vietnam crude steel production in the first 5 months of CY’19 increase by 41% Y-o-Y, as the production for 2019 (Jan-May) stood at 6.83 MnT as against 4.84 MnT in 2018 (Jan-May), with several capacity expansions underwent by steel mills while few upcoming capacities likely to keep crude steel production supported in the second half of the year.
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