Posted on 24 Jan 2022
The East Asian bulk scrap market has seen recent import buying activity from South Korea, Kallanish notes.
A scrap supplier sold two cargoes last week to two South Korean mills. A leading Korean electric arc furnace mill took a 45,000-tonne cargo from the US West Coast at $524/tonne cfr HMS I basis. The other deal was for 25,000t of Australian-origin scrap at $525/t cfr to another South Korean mill.
“Scrap is very firm now,” a trader says. He adds that South Korean mills are “hungry” because they have booked minimal tonnages since end-November.
Hyundai Steel raised its bid prices for Japanese scrap last Thursday by JPY 2,000/t ($18) for most grades, including H2 grade scrap. Hyundai’s latest bid price for H2 is at JPY 51,000/t fob, equivalent to around $479/t cfr Incheon. But trading sources point out that the bid price was below Japanese suppliers' price expectations. The firm domestic scrap market in South Korea is expected to strengthen further after the Lunar New Year holiday, Kallanish understands.
In Vietnam, bulk HMS 1/2 80:20 scrap from the US is currently offered at $530-535/t cfr, local trading sources say. A local trader reports that bids are currently at around $525/t cfr. Prices were hovering at $500/t levels in the first half of January.
Source:Kallanish
