Tight scrap supply has been pushing up import prices in South Korea, with the latest deal for Russian material touching a new high. Overall demand in the country has continued to lack strength, but as sentiment has been bullish in the Asian scrap market and the outlook has been positive, customers have had to accept higher prices in each new deal.
Hyundai Steel has purchased around 45,000 mt of Russian A3 scrap at $358/mt CFR recently, according to market sources, which is $29/mt higher than the previous deal for the same origin scrap reported on November 25. Sources said that there has been a very low number of offers of ex-US scrap and that prices have been going up rapidly, and so buying Russian scrap was a good option for the buyer. The indicative price level for ex-US HMS I scrap has been at $370/mt CFR S. Korea, up by $15/mt compared to early last week.
There have been no new deals heard for Japanese scrap. The price level for H2 has been assessed by market sources at JPY 33,000/mt ($315/mt) FOB, up by JPY 500/mt ($4.8/mt) from late last week. But South Korean importers are expected to show interest mainly in purchases of higher grade scrap.