Japanese scrap export prices rose during the week with increasing appetite from oversea customers, trading sources in Tokyo said.
S&P Global Platts assessed Japanese H2 grade ferrous scrap export prices at Yen 28,500-29,000/mt ($255-259/mt) FOB Tokyo Bay Wednesday, midpoint of Yen 28,750/mt FOB is up Yen 1,000/mt from the midpoint of last week's assessment.
Some South Korean mini-mills were heard to have booked Japanese H2 material at Yen 29,000/mt FOB early this week through private negotiations after South Korea's leading EAF mill Hyundai Steel placed its bid at Yen 28,500/mt FOB for H2 on July 20. Hyundai booked about 60,000 mt of Japanese scrap with other grades with its bids, as reported.
A Vietnamese mill was heard to have booked 5,000 mt of H2 at $285-290/mt CFR late-last week, up by $5-10/mt from the latest booking by Vietnamese a week ago and a Taiwanese mill has booked 5,000 mt of Japanese H1/H2 50:50 at $280/mt CFR early this week, up $15/mt from the latest booking at late-June.
A Tokyo-based scrap trader said the booking by the Vietnamese mill was equivalent to around Yen 28,480-28,780/mt FOB and those by the Taiwanese mill was equivalent to around Yen 28,560/mt FOB.
"We are currently targeting around Yen 29,000-29,500/mt FOB for H2 export, but as we are paying higher prices to collect materials for export, our target needs to be lifted further as well," he said.
Japanese traders are currently paying around Yen 28,500-29,000/mt FAS to collect H2 material to be exported from eastern Japan, up Yen 500-1,000/mt from a week ago.
"As scrap distributors are holding their scrap until prices increase further, scrap deliveries to yards for export or domestic mini-mills have been slower while scrap loading to vessels from Tokyo Bay has been active, which also led domestic prices higher," another scrap trader in Tokyo said.
Japan's leading mini-mill, Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, had last lifted its scrap buying prices by Yen 500-1,000/mt at its Tahara works in central Japan and Utsunomiya works, north of Tokyo effective from July 20 arrivals. H2 buying price for truck delivered to Utsunomiya works has become Yen 28,000/mt.
The second trader said that many of mini-mills are carrying out summer shutdowns this week to early August, but no sign of shortage in demand has been seen yet.
"We expect active scrap loading for export will be continued until Japanese holidays in mid-August," he added, claiming domestic scrap prices will stay firm as some mini-mills have already started collecting scrap to prepare for their holiday productions.
The Asian bulk heavy melting scrap market is on upwards during the week amid more active bookings made at higher prices in the region, trading sources said.
One Vietnamese mill has booked around 25,000 mt of a bulk cargo ex-Australia early last week at $304/mt CFR for HMS I, $299/mt CFR for HMS II, and $309/mt CFR for shredded, regional trading sources including South Korea, Vietnam, and Australia said. As such, the composition cargo on HMS I/II 80:20 basis was priced at around $303/mt CFR Vietnam, sources added.
Another Vietnamese mill is also heard to have booked some bulk scrap from Australia at around $305/mt CFR Vietnam on HMS I/II 80:20 basis; however, no further details have been confirmed.
Meanwhile, mills in South Korea and relatively smaller mills in Vietnam are currently rather eying on shorter-distance bookings due to high offer prices for bulk scrap, sources said.
Offer prices for bulk HMS I/II 80:20 to South Korea now prevail at around $305-310/mt CFR South Korea, up from the previous week's $300/mt CFR, but South Korean mills refused to buy any, citing too high prices, trading sources in Seoul said.
Instead, South Korea's leading EAF mill Hyundai Steel booked around 100,000 mt of Russian A3 grade at $285/mt CFR South Korea late last week, a source close to the company said.
"Hyundai received much offer volumes as it hasn't booked any Russian scrap for the past month," the source added.
South Korean mills including Hyundai and Dongkuk Steel Mill last purchased Russian scrap around June 23 at around $275-279/mt CFR South Korea, as reported.
"Hyundai's booking price for Russian scrap is relatively cheap considering the current market situation for other grades," a Seoul-based trader said.
Similarly in Vietnam, smaller mills are also eying shorter-distance scrap bookings including Japanese and Hong Kong scrap, Vietnamese sources said.
This week, a smaller Vietnamese mill booked around 3,000 mt of Hong Kong-origin scrap at around $289/mt CFR Vietnam on HMS I/II 50:50 basis, a Vietnamese source said.
"As only bigger mills can buy bulk cargoes, demand for Hong Kong-origin scrap is increasing by smaller mills in Vietnam," the source added.
Amid the lack of demand for US-origin bulk scrap from East Asia due to high offer prices, one bulk cargo was sold to Bangladesh this week at $332/mt CFR on shredded basis, while offer prices to India are now prevailing at around $310/mt CFR India, sources in the US and South Korea heard.
The previous bulk HMS I/II 80:20 booking to the Asian region was made during the week of June 19 for about 30,000 mt at $294-$295/mt CFR to Bangladesh.
Platts assessed East Asian bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap at $303-305/mt CFR Wednesday, up from $285-$295/mt CFR in the previous week. The midpoint of $304/mt CFR is $14/mt higher on week.
