Vietnam’s imported scrap market remained quiet for Tet holidays, whereas offers to Vietnam have moved up sharply by $15-20/t after Japan’s monthly Kanto tender was concluded at higher than expected levels during mid of last week. The disparity between bids and offers kept buyers away from the market. Market insiders believe that there is room for more inquiries to come for Mar’21 shipment to Vietnam.
- SteelMint’s assessment for Japanese H2 bulk offers stands at $420/t CFR Vietnam basis, up by $19/t w-o-w.
- Bulk USA origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) to Vietnam is now being quoted at $430/t CFR level, up considerably by $30/t w-o-w.
Japanese domestic scrap prices have also risen tracking a hike in export prices. Japan’s Tokyo Steel has significantly raised its scrap purchase price for Utsunomiya work (Kanto region) by JPY 6,000/t ($57), effective from 13th Feb’21. The company is now paying a price of JPY 35,000/t ($333) for H2 scrap delivered at Utsunomiya.
Vietnam based buyers are likely to remain less active this week amid prevailing holidays. Also, the market is awaiting the return of Chinese mills to understand the price trends for Japanese scrap bookings.
Vietnam’s ferrous scrap import declines by 48% in Jan’21– SE Asia’s largest ferrous scrap importer- Vietnam has seen a sharp decline of 48% m-o-m in its imported scrap volumes to 0.38 mn t in Jan’21, as per the data maintained with SteelMint. Japan continues to remain the largest supplier at 0.18 mn t in Jan’21 followed by USA and Hong Kong. With yards in major supplying countries being closed due to winter holidays imports have remained on the lower side
Thailand’s imported scrap offers largely stable– Central America origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers were mostly stable last week at $345-350/t CFR Thailand level, whereas limited deals were reported at these levels. Despite the effect of COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand’s domestic steelmakers have produced around 4.29 mn t of crude steel in CY’20, witnessing a growth of 11% y-o-y as compared to CY’19.
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