South Korea's leading electric arc furnace mill, Hyundai Steel, raised its bid price Thursday for Japanese H2 scrap by Yen 1,000/mt from its previous week's bid to Yen 29,500/mt FOB, a source close to the company said.
The steelmaker is heard to have secured a little more than 20,000 mt at its latest bid price as of Friday afternoon, sources said.
Offer prices were prevailing at around Yen 30,500/mt FOB, Platts was told.
"Some suppliers who need to make some sales will need to sell at this price, but they will also be in dilemma as they expect the prices to increase further," a Seoul-based trader 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 the previous week.
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. S&P Global Platts assessed Japanese H2 grade ferrous scrap export prices at Yen 28,500-29,000/mt FOB Tokyo Bay Wednesday, midpoint of Yen 28,750/mt FOB is up Yen 1,000/mt from the midpoint of the previous week's assessment.
The Asian bulk heavy melting scrap market continues to on upwards as an additional booking at a higher price is revealed late this week.
Around July 27, one major Vietnamese mill was widely heard in the market to have secured a bulk cargo ex-Australia at 311/mt CFR on HMS I basis during the late week of July 17, a source close to a major bulk supplier said.
Earlier in that week, one Vietnamese mill has booked around 25,000 mt of a bulk cargo ex-Australia at $304/mt CFR for HMS I, $299/mt CFR for HMS II, and $309/mt CFR for shredded, as previously reported. As such, the composition cargo on HMS I/II 80:20 basis was priced at around $303/mt CFR Vietnam.
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.
