The main EAF-based steel producer in Japan, Tokyo Steel, has announced a reduction of JPY 1,000/mt in its scrap purchase prices. The producer’s previous price decrease was announced on January 12, and Tokyo Steel had been increasing its domestic scrap procurement prices since February 9 at a gradual pace to offset the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the major currencies.
Tokyo Steel’s new price levels for H2 scrap are now in the range of JPY 63,500-65,500/mt. On dollar basis, the prices in question have declined from $510-525/mt to $487-502/mt as compared to the levels announced on April 18. Meanwhile, the shindachi scrap quotation range has also declined to JPY 66,000-69,500/mt ($506-533/mt), with this level equal to $529-557/mt on April 18. All prices are delivered and effective from May 7.
On April 12, SteelOrbis reported that Eisuke Sakakibara, a former vice minister of finance for international affairs stated that Japan will be “alarmed” if the dollar-yen exchange rate crosses above the 130 level. Now that the Japanese yen has depreciated to around this rate, market players are wondering what the next decision of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will be. The last time the Japanese yen depreciated below 130 against the US dollar was in 2002.
|
Plant |
H2 |
Shindachi |
||
|
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY /mt) |
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY/mt) |
|
|
Tahara |
64,500 |
-1,000 |
69,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Okayama |
64,500 |
-1,000 |
68,000 |
-1,000 |
|
Kyushu |
64,500 |
-1,000 |
66,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Utsunomiya |
65,500 |
-1,000 |
67,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Takamatsu |
63,500 |
-1,000 |
66,000 |
-1,000 |
$1 = JPY 130.43