Bearish sentiment has prevailed in South Korea’s import scrap market after the holiday. One of the major mills has managed to buy Russian scrap at a much lower price, which, however, has been assessed by a number of market sources as being too low and not reflecting the current market conditions.
Dongkuk Steel has purchased 30,000 mt of ex-Russia A3 scrap at $286/mt CFR this week, which is $17/mt below the previous deal for the same origin raw material signed by Hyundai Steel, as reported on September 18. “The fixture price is very low for the current market,” a source said.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, Hyundai Steel bought ex-US HMS I at $306/mt CFR last week. For now, the tradable value for ex-US HMS I in S. Korea has been assessed by market sources at $300-305/mt CFR, taking into account offers and deals to other Asian countries. At the same time, the new contract for Russian scrap at $286/mt CFR corresponds to around $296-298/mt CFR for ex-US HMS I. But suppliers from the US have not been ready to provide such a low level and have been insisting on $300/mt CFR and above.
Some small-volume contracts for Japanese H2 scrap have been signed at JPY 27,000/mt ($255/mt) FOB to S. Korea, stable compared to last week. Market sources are waiting for the Kanto Tetsugen export tender results on October 9, which will show a clearer direction in the Japanese scrap export market.