South Korea: Hyundai Steel Lowers Bid for Japanese Scrap by USD 9

South Korean leading EAF steelmaker - Hyundai Steel has again lowered its purchase bids for Japanese scrap by a further JPY 1,000/MT (USD 9) today, on the account of drastic fall in Japanese domestic scrap market in the last couple of weeks.

In bids presented today for Japanese scrap, the company has its reduced H2 scrap bids to JPY 25,000/MT (USD 232), FoB Japan as against JPY 26,000/MT (USD 241), FoB presented 2 weeks ago. While bids for other grades of scrap like H1 stands at JPY 26,000/MT, FoB, while Shredded and HS scrap stood at JPY 28,000/MT (USD 259).

The purchase bid for higher quality Shin Daichibara scrap was additionally lowered by JPY 1,500/MT on lesser demand of high-quality scrap, and the current bid for the same stands at JPY 28,500/MT (USD 264), FoB Japan.

As per records maintained by SteelMint, the current prices are the company's lowest bids since June 2017, when the purchase bids for H2 scrap stood at around JPY 24,000-26000/MT FoB Japan. In line with the Hyundai Steel's bid, other Korean steelmakers are also reportedly looking to book Japanese scrap at similar price levels.

Japanese domestic scrap prices have been in a free-fall in the last few weeks, with leading mill Tokyo Steel observing 7 Price cuts across its plants in Sep'19 till now.

The japan's Iron and Stel Association's price index for domestic scrap also fell sharply this week. The index currently stands at JPY 22,000/MT for H2 scrap, down JPY 1000/MT W-o-W, while a region-wise breakup puts H2 scrap price for Kanto and Kansai region at JPY 22,700/MT and JPY 23,000/MT ex-works respectively.

Yesterday Kansai Iron and Steel Federation concluded its 2nd tender for Sep'19, in which the winning bid was awarded a total 5,000 MT of Japanese H2 at an average of JPY 23,270/MT (USD 215), FAS, lower by 1,840/MT (USD 17) than the previous tender result on 4th Sep'19 earlier this month.