Following the holiday season that was relatively silent in terms of scrap imports, Vietnam has continued to see lower import scrap prices. Despite the significant growth recorded by Vietnam in 2024, steel demand in the country has not yet recovered much, and steel producers’ capacity utilization rates are on the low side, at approximately 50-60 percent, SteelOrbis hears. According to the data shared by the Vietnamese government earlier this week, “Vietnam’s GDP expanded 7.09 percent last year to $476.3 billion, faster than the 5.05 percent expansion in 2023, driven by strong exports and robust foreign investment inflows.” According to the report, “Exports in 2024 grew 14.3 percent from a year earlier to $405.53 billion, led by shipments of electronics, smartphones, clothing and farm produce.”
Offers for Japanese H2 scrap to Vietnam have decreased over the past week by approximately $5/mt further to $315-320/mt CFR. Buyers’ bids are now at $310/mt CFR and below, showing that the gap between buyers and sellers’ price ideas is once again increasing.
Ex-US bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap offers to Vietnam have declined by $5/mt on the lower end to $345-350/mt CFR. Vietnamese mills’ ideas of a workable level for this grade were approximately $5-7/mt lower than the offers.