The major EAF-based steel producer in Japan, Tokyo Steel, has announced two consecutive cuts in its local procurement scrap prices for all its plants. Since international buyers are still reducing their bids for Japanese scrap, the downward pressure on local scrap procurement prices has also been maintained by Tokyo Steel, which has been pushing prices down since May 6. The latest price cuts have been announced on June 8 and 9.
Tokyo Steel has cut scrap purchase prices by JPY 1,000-1,500/mt in the new announcements as compared to the prices shared by SteelOrbis on Monday, June 6. Prices for H2 scrap have declined to JPY 55,000-56,000/mt ($411-419/mt) depending on the mill. But due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar, dollar-based prices have declined by $17/mt on both the lower and upper ends.
The Shindachi scrap price range of Tokyo Steel has declined by JPY 1,000-1,500/mt or $17-18/mt to JPY 57,500-61,000/mt ($430-456 447-474/mt). All prices are delivered and effective from June 10.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen is now at 133.6 to the dollar, marking its weakest level in 20 years against the dollar. Despite the rising inflation in Japan, Bank of Japan (BoJ) governor Kuroda stated that the central bank’s inflation target of two percent has not been met yet. Hence, Japan is expected to keep its monetary policy stable in the short term.
|
Plant |
H2 |
Shindachi |
||
|
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY /mt) |
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY/mt) |
|
|
Tahara |
56,000 |
-1,000 |
61,000 |
-1,000 |
|
Nagoya |
56,000 |
-1,000 |
- |
- |
|
Okayama |
56,000 |
-1,000 |
59,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Kyushu |
56,000 |
-1,000 |
58,000 |
-1,000 |
|
Utsunomiya |
55,500 |
-1,500 |
57,500 |
-1,500 |
|
Takamatsu |
55,000 |
-1,000 |
57,500 |
-1,000 |
$1 = JPY 133.6