Japanese steel scrap exporters have continued to increase prices over the past week, facing lower availability of supply for overseas buyers, as the local market has improved further. Most sellers are staying on the sidelines, trying not to trade any sizable volumes abroad, taking into account good local prices.
The SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has increased to JPY 33,500-34,500/mt ($322-331/mt) FOB, up by JPY 1,000/mt ($9.6/mt) compared to late last week. “Japanese suppliers are quite reluctant to sell, because of the uptrend and high demand. Moreover, the domestic price is quite on a par with export prices,” a major Japanese exporter said. The price at the lower end of the range is the lowest that suppliers can consider for now, though the tradable value (for customers in Vietnam, in particular) has already hit and even exceeded JPY 34,000/mt FOB a little.
In South Korea, Hyundai Steel has announced its new bids for high quality scrap of shindachi and HS grades at JPY 37,000/mt ($355.5/mt) FOB. The bid price for shindachi is JPY 500/mt ($4.8/mt) higher than in the previous round of purchases last week. No fresh bids for Japanese H2 scrap have been reported from South Korea lately.
In Vietnam, Japanese suppliers have increased offers to $365/mt CFR for H2 scrap, up by $10-15/mt from the previous week. After a deal reported at $350/mt CFR late last week, the new transactions have been heard at $355-365/mt CFR, but there has been no information about the volumes sold and sources believe that there were only limited trades possible. There has been a rumor that the price for ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap by bulk to Vietnam has touched $380/mt CFR ($15/mt higher than in the previous booking), but this could not be confirmed by the time of publication.
On Wednesday, December 2, Tokyo Steel announced a price increase for all five of its assets for the second time this week. Tokyo Steel has increased prices by JPY 500-1,000/mt ($4.8-9.6/mt) depending on the plant. As a result, the H2 price level for Tahara Works has reached JPY 33,500/mt ($322/mt), up by JPY 1,000/mt, while the price has increased to JPY 32,500/mt ($312/mt) for the Okayama plant, up JPY 500/mt from the previous level. The prices for H2 for Kyushu and Takamatsu have added JPY 500/mt to JPY 31,000/mt ($298/mt) and JPY 30,000/mt ($288/mt) respectively. The price level has risen at the Utsunomiya plant to JPY 30,000/mt ($288/mt), which is JPY 1,000/mt higher than earlier this week. All prices are delivered and effective from December 3.