On July 25, SteelOrbis reported that Japanese domestic H2 prices continued to trend stable at mini-mills in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya at JPY 34,300-34,500/mt ($309-311/mt) while shindachi scrap prices ticked up slightly on tight supply at JPY 38,800-39,100/mt ($350-353/mt), all prices delivered, resulting in a slight increase in dollar terms on currency fluctuations.
Market sources continue reporting a ‘stable’ trend in the domestic market for the week ended June 27 in both JPY and dollar terms, except for a $1/mt price erosion on the top end of the shindachi range, but note that South Korea’s Hyundai Steel has deferred bids for Japanese export scrap for the second week. While the Japanese domestic economy is considered “robust and with strong scrap demand due to active private and public projects,” an increase in scrap inventories at ports may place pressure in the domestic market as exporters make some of the inventories available to domestic mills.
USD = JPY 110.84 (Jul 25)
USD = JPY 110.94 (Jul 27)