Having picked up in previous weeks in terms of trading, Vietnam’s import scrap market is now silent since the supplier regions are on holiday. As SteelOrbis reported last week, Vietnamese steel producers’ stance towards import scrap had changed rapidly last week after meeting most of their needs by closing deals at higher price levels. Hence, the current silence is not expected to be harmful.
Japanese H2 scrap offers to Vietnam are at $405-410/mt CFR, slightly lower than the deals closed at $410/mt CFR last week. With the freight rate being approximately at $50/mt between Japan and Vietnam, this price translates to JPY 47,444-48,110/mt FOB. However, it should be noted that buyers’ ideas for Japanese H2 scrap prices were at levels in the $380s/mt CFR at the end of last week.
The SteelOrbis reference prices for ex-Japan H2 scrap have decreased from JPY 50,000-50,400/mt ($377-380/mt) FOB to JPY 47,400-49,000/mt ($355-367/mt) FOB. The lower end of the prices is represented by the offers received by Vietnamese mills, while the upper end is now represented by Hyundai Steel’s bids. The dollar equivalent of prices has decreased by $22/mt on the lower end and by $13/mt on the upper end with the currency fluctuations taken into consideration.
Towards the end of last week, a deal for ex-Hong Kong HMS I/II 50:50 scrap in bulk to Vietnam was closed at $400/mt CFR, slightly higher than the deals done in the range of $395-400/mt CFR a week earlier. Currently, offers from Hong Kong for the same grade stand at $400-405/mt CFR.
Ex-US West Coast bulk cargo offers to Vietnam are in the range of $415-420/mt CFR, while no deal has been done at this level yet. The previous ex-US West Coast deal was closed by Vietnam at $410/mt CFR for HMS I/I 80:20 scrap, as reported by SteelOrbis on December 16.
$1 = JPY 133.67
