Today, June 9, Japan-based Kanto Cheorwon has announced a scrap export tender. A previous tender in May was cancelled as the price was said to be too low. However, sentiment in the Asian scrap markets has failed to improve over the past month and the price in today’s tender was significantly lower than the one in the Kanto Tetsugen tender held on May 11.
According to the information from market sources, the highest bid in the tender for H2 scrap was JPY 53,560/mt ($402/mt) FAS. 5,500 mt of H2 scrap has changed hands, SteelOrbis has learned. In the Kanto Tetsugen tender in May, the highest bid was for 5,500 mt of H2 scrap, was JPY 58,010/mt ($445/mt with JPY-dollar exchange rate at 130.3) FAS but suppliers had assessed the bids in question to be too low and decided to refrain from export sales at the time. As a result, between the two export tenders, the price of H2 scrap has fallen by JPY 4,540/mt or $43/mt considering the depreciation of the Japanese currency.
The bid in the Kanto Cheorwon tender corresponds to JPY 54,560/mt ($409/mt) on FOB basis. This price level is slightly higher than South Korean steel producer Hyundai Steel’s bids for Japanese H2 scrap also announced today, June 9, at JPY 53,000/mt ($397/mt) FOB. Meanwhile, local scrap procurement prices of Tokyo Steel for H2 scrap have declined to JPY 55,000-56,000/mt ($411-419/mt) depending on the mill and, despite the fall, are still higher than the export prices shared above.
Accordingly, the SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has decreased today by JPY 500/mt on the lower end to JPY 53,000-56,000/mt ($397-419/mt) FOB, lower by $13-16/mt week on week due to the depreciation of the yen against the US dollar.