Some tonnages of Japanese scrap have been sold to South Korea at JPY 25,000/mt ($231/mt) FOB this week. The price level is in line with offers announced late last week, when they lost JPY 1,000/mt ($9/mt). Market sources believe that a further decline is expected in the market as the downtrend in the international market has continued and as local scrap prices have kept going down in Japan.
On Friday, September 20, the leading EAF steelmaker in Japan, Tokyo Steel, has decided to cut its scrap purchase prices at four out of five steel plants by JPY 500/mt ($4.6/mt) to JPY 20,500-23,500/mt ($190-217/mt) delivered, with the new prices effective starting from September 21. Tokyo Steel has this time only kept its purchase prices stable for its Utsunomiya plant, at JPY 23,500/mt delivered.