Vietnamese buyers came back to the market with some scrap demand this week. Prices in the Vietnamese import scrap market have increased a bit but market is still not that active. “It is not like in India and Bangladesh, not that active,” a source commented.
Vietnamese mills’ bids for Japanese shredded scrap are at $407-408/mt CFR, shindachi at $410/mt CFR, while suppliers are aiming $10/mt higher than these levels.
Offers for ex-Japan H2 grade scrap to Vietnam are at $380-385/mt CFR. For this grade, some buyers’ bids are still at $350s/mt CFR, while others can accept at around $370s/mt CFR.
Ex-US West Coast for bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap cargoes were offered at $420/mt CFR to Vietnam this week, which is still considered very high.
Additionally, ex-Hong Kong HMS 50:50 scrap offers to Vietnam are also at $380-385/mt CFR.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference prices for ex-Japan H2 scrap have settled at JPY 48,200-50,000/mt ($336-349/mt) FOB, stable on the lower end and up by JPY 500/mt from the upper end. Over the past week Japanese yen depreciated against the US dollar, hence dollar-based range declined by $6/mt on the lower end and by $2/mt on the upper end. The lower end of the range corresponds to Hyundai’s bids, while the upper end is now represented by the Vietnamese buyers’ bids.
$1 = JPY 143.23