Japanese steel scrap prices fall on softened demand

The softening of Japanese ferrous scrap prices which began in mid-January has accelerated over the past week, especially in the Kanto area around Tokyo, due to falling demand from mini-mills in the region, market sources observed on Thursday.

So far this week Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan’s top electric-arc-furnace steel producer, has trimmed steel scrap buying prices at its Utsunomiya works, north of Tokyo, on new fewer than three occasions by a total of Yen 6,000/t ($58/t). As of January 28, the company is paying Yen 32,000/t for H2 grade scrap delivered