Japanese ferrous scrap export prices decreased during the week to Wednesday, with lower bid prices from a South Korean mill and lower offer prices by Japanese traders, regional trading sources said.
S&P Global Platts assessed Japanese H2 grade ferrous scrap for export at Yen 36,500-Yen 37,000/mt ($332-$337/mt) FOB Tokyo Bay Wednesday, down Yen 1,000/mt on week.
On Monday, Hyundai Steel, South Korea's leading electric arc furnace mill, submitted bid Yen 36,500/mt FOB for Japanese H2 material, down Yen 1,000/mt from its previous bid on January 15, sources said.
Hyundai Steel also bid for Shindachi grade at Yen 41,500/mt FOB, HS and shredded at Yen 39,500/mt FOB, all down Yen 1,000/mt from its previous bids.
The steelmaker received a total of around 230,000 mt of offer volumes but only concluded around 80,000 mt of higher grade scrap only, a source close to the company said.
"The offer volume was too large for Hyundai to accept it all, so the company rejected all H2 offers," a Seoul-based trader said.
Hyundai only needed higher grade scrap including Shindachi grade due to sufficient inventories for H2 grade, the source close to Hyundai said.
"Hyundai might have succeeded to peak out Japanese scrap export prices with its latest bids, and other customers from South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan have also been quiet," a Tokyo-based trader said.
Japanese traders were targeting around Yen 37,500/mt FOB for H2 export, down from a minimum Yen 38,000/mt FOB the previous week.
"We are paying around Yen 36,500/mt FAS to collect H2 material to be exported from eastern Japan, so our offer prices must be at least Yen 37,500/mt FOB," another scrap trader in Tokyo said.
A Nagoya-based source said production by Japanese domestic mini-mills was expected to stay at a high level and the supply-demand balance for scrap would stay tight.
Contrary to Japanese suppliers' expectations for prices to stay high, regional buyers including Vietnamese mills were receiving lower offers due to a lack of interest from buyers, sources said.
While most offers for H2 were around $370/mt CFR Vietnam, down from $380-385/mt CFR Vietnam in the previous week, some mills were receiving even lower offers, at around $363/mt CFR Vietnam, a Vietnamese mill source said.
Moreover, the winner of the latest Kanto Tetsugen export tender was offering cargoes to Vietnam, but most mills were waiting to see market movements due to sluggish demand for finished product in Vietnam, a Vietnamese mill source said.
Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan's leading mini-mill, was paying Yen 37,500/mt for H2 material truck delivered to its Utsunomiya works, north of Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the Asian bulk heavy melting scrap market remained quiet amid weakening offer levels as well as buying interests, regional trading sources said.
"Mills are not even asking for offers currently, but offers for US-origin bulk HMS I/II 80:20 should be less than even $380/mt CFR South Korea," a Seoul-based trader said.
In Vietnam, while US-bulk HMS drew no interests due to high offers, offers for European bulk HMS I/II 60:40 were around $368-370/mt CFR Vietnam and around $355/mt CFR Vietnam for Hong Kong-origin HMS I/II 50:50, while bids were steady at $350/mt CFR for both origins, a regional trader said.
"We would only give a firm bid at a level of $350/mt CFR," a Vietnamese mill source said.
S&P Global Platts assessed the East Asia bulk HMS I/II 80:20 scrap price at $350-370/mt CFR, down from $370-390/mt CFR last week.
