The rumor of high tonnages of Russian A3 grade scrap bought by some South Korean producers has been circulating in the market for some time now.
SteelOrbis has learned that some of the South Korean mills in the southern side of the country have booked some Russian A3 grade scrap at $340-350/mt CFR. Another source confirmed that two separate South Korean producers have bought a total of 20,000 mt of Russian A3 grade scrap at $345/mt CFR. “Since some suppliers have their own ships and are unwilling to share their margins with the buyers, the freight is not disclosed,” another source said.
On August 29, POSCO has shared bids for Japanese shredded scrap at JPY 51,000/mt ($351/mt) CFR. POSCO’s previous bids for this grade were at JPY 57,500/mt CFR earlier this month. This level indicates FOB based prices for Japanese shredded scrap are at around JPY 48,000/mt or $330/mt with freight between South Korea and Japan being at around JPY 3,000/mt.
Considering the gap between ex-Japan shredded and H2 scrap prices at around JPY 3,000-4,000/mt, this means indications for ex-Japan H2 prices for South Korea are at JPY 44,000-45,000/mt FOB or $303-310/mt FOB.
