Posted on 12 Jul 2021
Kanto Tetsugen's latest monthly export auction settled lower for Japanese H2 grade scrap from Tokyo Bay, Kallanish notes.
The Kanto Tetsugen Cooperative Association auction on 9 July awarded a 14,000-tonne parcel to Itochu Metals Corp at JPY 47,888/tonne ($435/t) fas for H2 grade scrap. Trading sources estimate this to be around JPY 48,888/t ($444/t) fob. The latest award price is JPY 1,307/t lower than last month’s tender. The association announced that 14 companies submitted bids for a total of 97,500t for last Friday's tender.
In the Japanese domestic market, Tokyo Steel has maintained its scrap procurement prices at its Utsunomiya steelworks for more than two weeks. It is paying JPY 49,000/t for H2 grade scrap trucked to the steelworks, effective 24 June.
Following the Kanto tender, South Korea’s Hyundai Steel invited suppliers for its Japanese scrap purchase auction, South Korean trading sources say. The steel mill bid for H2 grade at JPY 48,000/t, H1/H2 grade at JPY 48,500/t, shredded grade at JPY 58,000/t, HS grade at JPY 60,500/t, Shindachi Bara (loose) at JPY 64,500/t and bushelling bundled at JPY 65,000/t. The tender will close on 12 July.
A leading South Korean steel mill also bid for Shindachi grade scrap at JPY 64,500/t cfr and shredded at JPY 62,500/t cfr. “It is unclear if the mill secured supply,” a Seoul-based trader says. The mill had ordered Shindachi scrap at JPY 66,500/t cfr the previous week. Freight cost from Japan to South Korea is estimated at JPY 4,000/t.
Meanwhile, the import market in Vietnam for bulk Japanese scrap was quiet. A southern Vietnamese mill last booked Japanese H2 scrap on 30 June at $484/t cfr Phy My. A recent offer for bulk Hong Kong HMS 1&2 50:50 scrap at $485/t cfr Vietnam did not attract takers, a regional trader says.
During the past week, some bookings for containerised US-origin scrap transpired in Vietnam. Containerised HMS 1&2 80/20 scrap was ordered on 8 July at $460-465/t cfr, with P&S scrap-in-container booked at $485/t cfr Vietnam. Sales of finished steel are slow because of the Covid-19 situation, a Vietnamese scrap trader says. Mills are therefore buying smaller quantities of scrap, he notes.
Source:Kallanish
