Posted on 16 May 2022
After bidding farewell to Covid-19 restriction pressure in March, Vietnam’s steel scrap imports recovered in April to support steel production. Imports were still lower than a year ago, however, Kallanish observes.
The country imported 465,694 tonnes of steel scrap in April, up 23.7% month-on-month but down 22.2% year-on-year, according to preliminary Vietnam Customs data. The April figure took year-to-date imports to 1.36 million tonnes, down 33.3% from a year earlier.
The average realised price of purchased scrap stood at $565/tonne in April and $490/t over January-April, respectively surging 35.6% and 21.9% y-o-y.
The largest supplier, Japan, shipped 162,462t of steel scrap to Vietnam in April, followed by the USA with 84,043t. Volumes from the two countries in the first four months were boosted to 412,646t and 265,159t respectively, occupying nearly half the market.
The Vietnamese scrap market is currently very soft, with competitively-priced HMS scrap-in-container gaining a foothold in the market.
Containerised HMS 1/2 80:20 from the US was booked at $455/tonne cfr Vietnam on 13 May. Offers are prevailing at $450-455/t cfr, trading sources say. Hong Kong HMS 1&2 50:50 was offered on 11 May at $515/t cfr southern Vietnam compared to $550/t cfr on 5 May.
Japanese H2 is currently offered at $530-535/t cfr Vietnam. “The Japanese scrap market is still firm,” says a Vietnamese trader of why Japanese scrap is uncompetitive against other sources. While this offer is negotiable, buyers are very quiet, he adds.
Some sources hear that bulk HMS scrap is currently offered at $510/t cfr Vietnam, but others say this cannot be confirmed.
The domestic scrap market in Vietnam has fallen by the equivalent of $50/t in the past week to $460-470/t. Market sources say the domestic scrap grade is slightly better quality than Japanese H2 grade.
Source:Kallanish
