The main EAF-based steel producer in Japan, Tokyo Steel, has announced the eighth cut in its local scrap procurement prices on May 30, reflecting the still bearish conditions in the market and following the drastic drop seen in export scrap quotations late last week.
Tokyo Steel has cut scrap purchase prices for all grades by JPY 1,000/mt for all five assets, though dollar prices have lost only $1/mt due to the appreciation of the Japanese currency. Prices for H2 scrap have declined to JPY 56,000-57,500/mt ($440-452/mt) depending on the mill. The higher end of the range corresponds to Utsunomiya Works in the Kanto area, from where a lot of exports come. As SteelOrbis reported late last week, South Korea’s Hyundai Steel announced its scrap offers for ex-Japan H2 at JPY 53,500/mt ($420/mt) FOB and purchased less than the planned 100,000 mt of all grades on offer. So, local prices in the Japanese domestic market now exceed those for export, meaning that the domestic market has still room to go down.
The SteelOrbis reference price has been settled at JPY 53,500-56,000/mt ($420-440/mt) FOB, with the higher end of the range lowered by JPY 1,000/mt, reflecting the average offer to Vietnam.
The Shindachi scrap price range of Tokyo Steel has been settled at JPY 58,500-62,000/mt ($460-487/mt). All prices are delivered and effective from May 31.
|
Plant |
H2 |
Shindachi |
||
|
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY /mt) |
Price (JPY/mt) |
Price change (JPY/mt) |
|
|
Tahara |
57,000 |
-1,000 |
62,000 |
-1,000 |
|
Okayama |
57,000 |
-1,000 |
60,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Kyushu |
57,000 |
-1,000 |
59,000 |
-1,000 |
|
Utsunomiya |
57,500 |
-1,000 |
59,500 |
-1,000 |
|
Takamatsu |
56,000 |
-1,000 |
58,500 |
-1,000 |
$1 = JPY 127.14