The Vietnamese scrap market has been very silent this week as the market tries to adjust after Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) announced that it has decided to terminate the safeguard duty on imports of billet of certain origins. Vietnam still has import tax on Chinese billets (10 percent), Indian and Middle Eastern billets (10 percent), Russian billets (1.3 percent) and Japanese billets (five percent), but it has cancelled the safeguard measures for ASEAN countries. A Vietnamese source stated, “ASEAN billets will possibly be competitive in selling to Vietnam from now on.”
Japanese bulk H2 scrap offers to Vietnam were at around $430/mt CFR late in the current week. Last week, there was no available price for this grade, but SteelOrbis’ estimations were below $445/mt CFR. There are no bids for the new offer levels.
Ex-US containerized HMS I/II 80:20 scrap has been offered to Vietnam at $410-415/mt CFR, $5-10/mt lower than the levels recorded last week. Despite the decline recorded in prices, Vietnamese producers’ bids are at around $400/mt CFR for this grade. No ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offer has been heard this week yet.
Ex-Hong Kong HMS 50:50 scrap offers to Vietnam this week have been at $428/mt CFR, while SteelOrbis has learned that some ex-Hong Kong bulk deals were done late last week in the range of $425-435/mt CFR, depending on the grades.
As of today, March 31, Tokyo Bay FAS-based prices for H2 grade scrap are at JPY 50,000-51,500/mt ($375-386/mt), JPY 3,000/mt or $21-28/mt down on dollar basis week on week due to the depreciation of the yen against the US dollar. This new level signals JPY 51,000-52,500/mt ($382-394/mt) FOB for this grade.
Tokyo Bay FAS prices for HS grade scrap are now in the range of JPY 54,000-55,000/mt ($405-412 426-434/mt), down JPY 2,000/mt or $21-22/mt on dollar basis week on week. Meanwhile, for shindachi scrap the price stands at JPY 54,000-54,500/mt ($405-409/mt), down JPY 2,000/mt or $21-22/mt as compared to last week.
$1 = JPY 133.35