Global Ferrous Scrap Market Overview - Week 42, 2019

Global ferrous scrap prices witnessed mixed price trends this week. Turkey continued to observe sharp uptrend in prices with active bookings, while and South Asian markets followed the suit. On the other hand, China and Japanese scrap prices moved down amid price cuts by Shagang Steel and Tokyo Steel respectively. South Korea's Hyundai Steel did not bid for Japanese scrap this week and also kept itself away from making bulk bookings.

Turkey - Amid a flurry of deep-sea cargo bookings being witnessed, Turkish prices for imported scrap shot up all through this week, amid reports of supply tightness at most global yards.

Deals reported this week included a Mediterranean region steelmaker booked a bulk vessel from a major US supplier yesterday with 32,000 MT of mixed cargo comprising of 12,000 MT HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 244/MT CFR, 8,000 MT of shredded at USD 249/MT and 12,000 MT of bonus at USD 254/MT CFR Turkey. Another Aegean based Plant booked a bulk cargo of 25,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from a Baltic recycler at USD 241.5/MT CFR, for November shipment.

SteelMint assessment for imported scrap of US HMS (80:20) stands at USD 244/MT, CFR Turkey, higher by USD 10-11/MT, W-o-W, while assessment from Europe stands at USD 239/MT CFR.

Japan - Japan's Kansai Federation concluded its 2nd tender of October'19, earlier this week on 16th Oct'19 where the winning bid by "JFE Shoji Trade" was awarded a total 5,200 MT of Japanese H2 at an average of JPY 22,050/MT (USD 203), FAS, falling by JPY 980/MT (USD 9) against the previous tender on 3rd Oct '19 earlier this month.

Tokyo Steel has lowered its scrap purchase price at its Tahara Plant by JPY 500/MT (USD 5) this week while keeping its bids unchanged for the other 4 plants. Coming as the 3rd price revision by the company in Oct'19, the new prices for all grades were effective from today (19th Oct'19)
After the said price cut, the company will now pay JPY 22,000/MT (USD 203) for H2 scrap delivered at its Tahara plant in Central Japan.

China - Eastern China's Shagang Jiangsu Steel lowered its scrap purchase price 3 times this week, on account of continuously falling finished steel prices and sufficient availability of scrap.

After the 3rd Price cut, Shagang Steel is paying RMB 2,700/MT (USD 381) inclusive of 13% VAT for HMS 3 (6-10 mm thickness) delivered to headquarters works situated in Zhangjiagang north of Shanghai in China, down by RMB 90/MT against last week. While bids for other grades, including HMS (thickness not less than 20 mm) and HMS (10-20 mm thickness) stand at RMB 2,780/MT (USD 392) and RMB 2,740/MT (USD 387) respectively.

India - Following the hike in Turkish import prices earlier this week, offers of imported scrap to India started to move up slightly, however, fresh offers were still awaited with further clarity on price levels expected by early next week. Global suppliers offered less material this week as scrap availability in the yards have turned tight, while continued slow finished steel sales are expected to prevent any aggressive procurement.

Assessment for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and the USA to India is currently at USD 261-265/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, with few shredded bookings earlier in the week, heard at around USD 261-263/MT CFR, while post the global upsurge, the market expects fresh offers to be around USD 265-270/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva levels.

HMS 1 (super) from Dubai was reportedly sold at around USD 262-263/MT CFR while HMS 1&2 from Dubai was being offered at around USD 256/MT CFR. South African origin HMS 1 was traded at around USD 260/MT CFR with improvement in trades as against last week, while European origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers now stand at USD 248-250/MT CFR Nhava Sheva.

Pakistan - Imported shredded scrap offers to Pakistan also shot up in the latter half of the week on the hike in global prices. Slower buying activity amid sufficient raw material inventories available and subdued finished steel sales.

Assessment for Shredded scrap stands at USD 269-270/MT CFR levels, up by USD 4-6/MT in comparison to the opening of the week while increasing by USD 7-9 against last week. With bookings reported at USD 268-269/MT, this week, offers are now in the range of USD 270-273/MT CFR

UAE origin HMS 1 (super) still remains in the range of USD 260-262/MT CFR. Domestic scrap as well as rebar prices, continued the downtrend this week as well, falling by PKR 1000/MT.

Bangladesh - Bulk market remained active this week, with the 3rd bulk cargo booking of this month being reported, where a Chittagong based mill again booked a vessel from an Australian recycler with a total of 13,000 MT scrap comprising of 8,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 252/MT and 5,000 MT of P&S (Bonus Grade) at USD 267/MT CFR Chittagong,
Imported scrap offers in containers to Bangladesh have also sharply moved up in recent trades, however buying remained active. Assessment for containerized Shredded scrap from Europe and North America stands in the range of USD 285/MT, CFR Chittagong, rising by USD 10/MT against last week.

HMS 1&2 from Brazil and Australia was traded at USD 265/MT CFR, 3,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and 1,000 MT of HMS (80:20) from Australia were booked by a Dhaka based Steel mill this week. HMS 1 offers stand around USD 275/MT CFR. Offers for P&S now stand at around USD 290/MT CFR.