On Tuesday, October 20, Tokyo Steel, one of the major EAF-based producers in Japan, announced its new scrap purchase prices for two assets, increasing them by JPY 500/mt ($4.7/mt). This is the first change in prices by the producer in more than a month - since September 14.
As a result, the scrap price for H2 at the Okayama factory has risen to JPY 26,000/mt, while in Takamatsu it has reached JPY 25,000/mt, delivered. Prices for the other three assets have remained stable at JPY 26,000-27,000/mt delivered depending on the plant, with the lower end of the range corresponding to the Utsunomiya plant.
In the export scrap market in Japan, prices for H2 have remained at JPY 26,000-28,000/mt ($246-265/mt) FOB so far, unchanged since last week. Some signs of an uptrend have already emerged in Asia with Vietnamese customers buying H2 at $295-300/mt CFR. However, demand from S. Korean steelmakers has remained weak and another round of declines in local scrap purchase prices (from Hyundai Steel, Dongkuk Steel and POSCO) has widened the difference with import prices further.