Despite the recent increase in the Kanto Tetsugen export tender in Japan, prices for Japanese H2 scrap have gradually declined in the latest deals to South Korea and Vietnam mainly due to the overall slower demand in these major consuming markets.
Contracts to South Korea for H2 scrap have been closed at JPY 25,500/mt ($232/mt) FOB this week, which corresponds to about $257/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. The FOB price lost JPY 500/mt ($4.5/mt) compared to the level in the previous deal last week, while it was JPY 1,000/mt ($9/mt) below most offers made last week.
Some small volumes of the same grade of ex-Japan scrap have been traded in Vietnam at $280/mt CFR and slightly below, while the workable level was about $285/mt CFR late last week.
Limited demand from Vietnam and South Korea over the past ten days have put pressure on ex-Japan scrap prices, while suppliers have been focused on preventing their stocks from rising, according to trading sources. Moreover, the decline seen in Turkey recently will keep sentiments in the Asian scrap market bearish in the near future.
$1 = JPY 109.941