As Turkey has continued to buy deep sea scrap cargoes at a relatively fast pace, prices are maintaining their uptrend. The current week opened with ex-US scrap prices at $460/mt CFR and ex-EU prices at $455/mt CFR. The next three deals indicated that the ongoing firm trend of prices. In the middle of the week, the number of offers to Turkey increased, leading Turkish mills to follow a cautious stance. However, the price rise continued after a couple of quiet days. Lately, the higher grades observed in the composition of deep sea scrap cargoes have been attracting attention. Today, new ex-US and ex-EU scrap deals in Turkey were shared with the market, with the benchmark grade price indicating a rise. In the EU region, collection activities have picked up slightly. As some German mills have increased their own domestic scrap procurement prices by €30/mt, collectors are more inclined to collect and sell. Turkey continues to need deep sea cargoes for April shipment. Under the current circumstances, SteelOrbis still thinks that deep sea scrap prices have remained strong and that another price increase is possible in upcoming bookings.
Under the current conditions, the deep sea benchmark HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in CFR terms has increased by 3.26 percent week on week. The prices are now 7.93 percent higher month on month in the deep sea segment, with prices being in the range of $457-462/mt CFR.
Scrap prices in the Ohio Valley and US Northeast have settled as anticipated with an upward price revision. HMS I quotations increased by $21-30/mt, while shredded moved up by $51/mt month on month.
SteelOrbis has confirmed that the dock delivered price range for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in New York is now at approximately $360-370/gt, against a range of $340-350/gt on February 28. The dock delivered price range for HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in Boston is now heard at $325-335/gt, against $310-330/gt during the last week of February.
The demand coming out of Turkey and the rising international scrap market have been reflected in the local Italian scrap market. Market players state that a €20-30/mt price increase has been observed in Italy since the beginning of March. Products such as flat steel and special steel are performing better, though no positive change has been observed in the long steel segment. For March, expectations are optimistic. Several sources said they believe that the local Italian scrap market is set to move up. It was observed that average HMS (E3) scrap prices in Italy have been at €3360-385/mt delivered.
The Kanto scrap export tender in Japan opened with higher price levels month on month. However, the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar prevented dollar-based prices from moving up accordingly, with a very small decline being recorded instead.
The average Kanto tender price reached JPY 55,438/mt ($407/mt) FAS, up by JPY 2,076/mt, though, due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen, the dollar-based price declined by $1/mt from February.
After a long pause, the leading EAF-based steel producer in Japan, Tokyo Steel, announced a hike in its local scrap purchase prices by JPY 2,000/mt on March 9, its first revision since the middle of February.
Tokyo Steel’s general range for H2 grade scrap has moved up to JPY 54,500-55,500/mt ($400-407/mt), depending on the mill. The dollar-based prices have decreased by $1-2/mt compared to the previous levels seen on February 10. The Shindachi scrap prices of Tokyo Steel have moved to the new range of JPY 56,500-57,500/mt ($414-422/mt).
Amid slower sales, the price uptrend in the local Vietnamese rebar market has slowed down. Vietnamese producers are inclined to reject higher scrap offers. As a result, the current week has been silent in terms of trading, particularly for bulk cargoes. The gap between bids and offers is still considered to be large.
Japanese bulk H2 scrap offers to Vietnam were at around $450-455/mt CFR earlier this week. Later, offers for this grade reached $460/mt CFR, while a producer has shared bids at $440/mt CFR.
A Vietnamese buyer concluded an ex-US containerized HMS I/II 80:20 scrap deal last week at $435/mt CFR. No ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap deal was done this week.
Offers for Japanese HS and shindachi grades to Vietnam are now at $490/mt CFR. Ex-Hong Kong HMS 50:50 scrap is also offered at $450-455/mt CFR Vietnam.
Having opposed the international scrap market trend for two weeks, South Korean steel producer Hyundai Steel has increased its bids for Japanese scrap. This week, a South Korean source reported that the mood in the country has been changing with Japanese suppliers gaining confidence. With the Kanto tender successfully concluded at higher price levels, Hyundai Steel was expected to again show interest in Japanese scrap.
SteelOrbis has learned that Hyundai Steel has shared a bid for Japanese H2 grade scrap at JPY 54,000/mt ($396/mt) FOB.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference prices for ex-Japan H2 scrap have changed from JPY 52,000-56,500/mt ($382-414/mt) FOB to JPY 54,000-56,500/mt ($396-414/mt) FOB. The lower end is now represented by Hyundai Steel’s most recent bid today, with the upper end of the range represented by the Kanto tender.
Indications for ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap to South Korea stand at $470/mt CFR. Freight between South Korea and the US is currently $30-35/mt.
After following the uptrend observed in the international scrap market this week, Taiwanese buyers are considering taking a break and have started showing resistance to the rising price levels. Even the increase recorded in Kanto scrap export tender has had little impact on the market.
Offers for ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers to Taiwan are in the range of $435-440/mt CFR, increasing from the $420/mt CFR level recorded at the end of last week.
Offers for Japanese H1/2 50:50 scrap by bulk to Taiwan are currently at $445-450/mt CFR, slightly higher as compared to $435-440/mt CFR last week. A Taiwanese producer has concluded a deal for this grade at $443/mt CFR.
Import scrap prices in Bangladesh have stopped their sharp increase, remaining mainly at the same levels as last week, with only several suppliers attempting to go higher. At the same time, while Bangladeshi scrap importers have been less active in negotiations for containerized scrap this week, talk about several sizable lots of scrap in bulk has been circulating in the market this week. In particular, offers for ex-UK shredded scrap in containers have increased by $5/mt week on week to $510-515/mt CFR, while offers for ex-UK PNS scrap have been assessed at around $520/mt CFR, the same as last week. Meanwhile, market insiders have been actively discussing three new bookings, each around 40,000 mt, for ex-Australia shredded scrap in bulk at $495-497/mt CFR, though, according to sources, only two deals have been confirmed so far. According to the sources, both batches, for 40,000 mt each, were transacted at the abovementioned level.
In Pakistan, new offers for shredded scrap in Pakistan have posted another increase this week. More specifically, offer for ex-UK shredded scrap in containers have settled at $490-500/mt CFR, up by $5-10/mt over the past week. However, according to sources, trade activity has remained in a lull with no fresh deals reported so far due to continuous problems with LCs.