Major South Korean scrap importer Hyundai Steel has announced new bid prices for Japanese material, lowering its price for H2 and HS scrap. At the same time, its bids for shredded and shindachi scrap have remained stable. Hyundai Steel and other South Korean steelmakers have been focusing on purchases of higher grade scrap recently.
Hyundai Steel has announced bids for H2 scrap from Japan at JPY 27,000/mt ($256/mt) FOB, JPY 1,000/mt ($9.5/mt) below its previous bid reported on September 10. Most Japanese suppliers are insisting on JPY 28,500-29,000/mt ($270-275/mt) FOB in offers, lower than earlier but far above customers' price idea. In the current conditions, a further decline in offers from Japan is inevitable, sources believe, as demand not only from South Korea but from other Asian customers also has been going down. Hyundai Steel’s bid for HS scrap has declined also by JPY 1,000/mt to JPY 31,000/mt FOB.
However, the producer has decided to leave its bids for shredded scrap and shindachi (equivalent to high grade ex-US busheling scrap) stable at the previous levels of JPY 30,500/mt ($289/mt) FOB and JPY 31,000/mt ($294/mt) FOB respectively.
