South Korean steelmaker POSCO has bid for Japanese scrap, keeping its bid prices stable week on week. Other South Korean producers are announcing cuts in their local scrap purchase prices while they continue to stay away from imports.
POSCO has shared bids for Japanese HS grade scrap at JPY 51,000/mt ($334/mt) CFR, stable as compared to last week. POSCO’s bids are now $2/mt lower on US dollar basis than the last week’s price due to exchange rate fluctuations. The producers’ offers for busheling grade scrap are at JPY 50,000/mt CFR or $327/mt CFR.
POSCO’s bids for Japanese shredded scrap have moved sideways at JPY 49,000/mt ($321/mt) CFR, $1/mt lower than the previous level announced last week. The JPY 49,000/mt level indicates FOB-based prices for Japanese shredded scrap are at around JPY 46,000/mt or $301/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 42,000-43,000/mt FOB or $275-281/mt FOB. This dollar-based H2 scrap price range on FOB basis is $1-2/mt lower than the levels calculated late last week.
$1 = JPY 152.80