Steel and scrap demand in Vietnam remain on the low side this week. Although import scrap prices have declined slightly over the past week, a Vietnamese source commented, “Not much has changed over this period. Demand in Vietnam is very weak and it is not following the international market.” As SteelOrbis mentioned earlier, Vietnamese producers prefer to buy domestic scrap instead of imports under the current circumstances.
This week, bids from Vietnam for containerized HMS I/II 80:20 scrap are at $365/mt CFR Vietnam, $5/mt lower than the deal prices recorded last week. US West Coast HMS I/II 80:20 offers for bulk cargoes to Vietnam are at around $395/mt CFR.
Offers coming out of Japan for H2 grade scrap are at $370/mt CFR, also moving down by $5/mt on the upper end week on week. No new deals have been heard over the past week. Japanese shredded scrap offers to Vietnam are at $380/mt CFR, with no bids shared by Vietnamese buyers.
Vietnamese mills have concluded bookings from Hong Kong for bulk HMS 50:50 scrap in the range of $360-365/mt CFR.
Tokyo Bay FAS-based prices for H2 grade scrap are at JPY 50,500/mt ($336/mt). This level shows that FOB prices are still at JPY 51,500/mt ($343/mt) for this grade. Tokyo Bay FAS prices for HS grade scrap are at JPY 53,500/mt ($356/mt), while prices for shindachi scrap are at JPY 52,000/mt ($346/mt) FAS.
SteelOrbis’ reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has moved down by JPY 500/mt on the upper end this week to JPY 49,000-51,500/mt ($327-344/mt) FOB. Due to the depreciation of the yen observed during the past week, dollar-based quotations have increased by $2/mt on the lower end and decreased by $1/mt on the upper end. The lower end is represented by the H2 offers Vietnamese producers have received, while the upper end is represented by Tokyo Bay export prices.
$1 = JPY 150.21