At the end of last week, SteelOrbis reported that South Korean producer Hyundai Steel shared bids at $620/mt CFR with Russian suppliers for A3 grade scrap. At the time, US-based suppliers’ offers were considered to be on the high side, while Hyundai had kept its bids for Japanese scrap stable week on week.
Since then, it is learned that Hyundai Steel has bought 30,000 mt of A3 grade scrap from Russia at $620/mt CFR. This level is lower than Russian suppliers’ A3 grade scrap offers at $630-640/mt CFR received in the week starting March 7. Due to the sanctions imposed on Russian goods and companies, the price is softening but the reluctance of vessels to go to Russian ports is easing, SteelOrbis observes.
Also, an offer from the US West Coast to South Korea for HMS I is at $655/mt CFR, though SteelOrbis has learned that one of South Korea’s major steel producers has not accepted this level. Again, a decrease from the indicative levels of $700/mt CFR is observed in the US scrap segment.
In 2021, South Korean mills’ leading scrap supplier was Japan with a total of 2,592,739 mt, while the US was in second place with only 579,194 mt and Russia in third with 458,732 mt of scrap.
