Having concluded a deal from the US for HMS I at the beginning of the current week, South Korean steelmaker Hyundai Steel has kept its bids for Japanese scrap stable. Alternative sources have managed to sell to South Korea over the past week, first Russian scrap and then ex-US bookings were heard totaling 65,000 mt. And the local scrap flow in South Korea is considered to be at healthy levels. As a result, Hyundai Steel has kept its bids for Japanese scrap stable with the support of the sideways movement observed in the international scrap market. A Japanese market player commented, “Hyundai may be able to buy small tonnages of H2 from Japan this week at the bid levels. They just want to test the market.”
As compared to the levels announced on March 31, Hyundai Steel has kept its bid for Japanese H2 grade stable JPY 66,000/mt ($537/mt) FOB. On April 4, the main EAF-based steel producer in Japan, Tokyo Steel, increased its new price levels for H2 scrap to the range of JPY 64,000-65,000/mt ($521-529/mt) delivered. Despite the recent rise announced by Tokyo Steel, Hyundai Steel’s price is still $8-16/mt higher than the local market price.
Meanwhile, offers from Japan to Vietnam for H2 grades are still at $620-630/mt CFR, stable since SteelOrbis’ report on April 1. On the other hand, Vietnamese buyers’ targeted levels for Japanese H2 grade scrap are in the range of $605-610/mt CFR.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has remained unchanged at JPY 66,000-67,000/mt ($537-545/mt) FOB, though the depreciation of the yen has caused dollar-based prices to move down by $2/mt as compared to SteelOrbis’ report published on April 1.
As compared to March 31, Hyundai’s bids for HS scrap have remained stable at JPY 71,500/mt ($582/mt) FOB. The producer’s bids for shredded and shindachi bara grades have also moved sideways week on week at JPY 71,500/mt ($582/mt) and JPY 73,500/mt ($598/mt), both on FOB basis. On April 4, Tokyo Steel announced its new price levels for shindachi scrap at JPY 66,500-70,000/mt ($541-570/mt) delivered.
$1 = JPY 122.85
