WEEKLY: Japan’s scrap prices nosedive on less demand
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan’s top electric-arc-furnace steel producer, has trimmed its scrap buying prices by Yen 500/t ($5/t) starting June 25 for deliveries to its Utsunomiya works, north of Tokyo for all grade materials, and it has cut scrap procurement prices by another Yen 1,000/t for supplies to its Utsunomiya works for all grades with the H2 buying price now at Yen 25,000/t. It has, however, kept scrap prices to its other three works and a steel distribution center unchanged.
The latest decision by Tokyo Steel, thus, ended its scrap price rise by a total of Yen 6,500-8,000/t for different steelworks over May 22-June 17 via ten times of price adjustments, Mysteel Global notes.
Other than Tokyo steel, other mini-mills in Kanto area around Tokyo have started decreasing their scrap buying prices sometime last week too, while some have stopped taking in scrap deliveries because of a full stockyard, sources said.
As for exports, “scrap loading to vessels has slowed down since last week, and shippers have been into scrap price cuts promptly, propelling more scrap dealers to divert their scrap deliveries to the domestic steel mills,” a Tokyo-based scrap trader explained.
He noted scrap loading for exports at the Tokyo Bay area - Japan’s key scrap export port - fell to 45,000 tonnes for the whole week last week, far below around 60,000-70,000 tonnes/week since early May.
Meanwhile, the Japanese shippers are paying around Yen 22,500-23,500/t FAS for H2 scrap exports from the Tokyo Bay area, down Yen 2,500-3,000/t on week or Yen 3,000-3,500/t lower from its peak two weeks ago, sources confirmed.
Among the latest overseas orders for scrap, a Taiwanese mill booked the Japanese H1/H2 50:50 material at $255/t CFR, equivalent to Yen 24,000/t FOB, and a Vietnamese mill was heard booking the Japanese H2 at around $247/t CFR or about Yen 23,500/t FOB, both being booked around June 26, down $15/t and $31/t from their respective bookings on June 12, traders shared.
Last week, no scrap booking was reported from the South Korean mills, though the Japanese traders estimated the bidding prices from the South Korean mills at around Yen 23,000/t FOB, below the traders’ targeted pries of around Yen 24,000/t FOB, sources noted.
Many Asian steel mills have been into a summer sales lull starting June, and this may last until sometime in August, Mysteel Global understands.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com
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