South Korea : Imported Scrap Prices Move Up in Recent Deals

As South Korean Mills turned active after easing of lockdown measures since the last few weeks, bookings for imported scrap have picked up from various origins.

In the latest contract reported, major steelmaker Dongkuk Steel has booked a bulk cargo of around 30,000 MT from an Australian yard of a US scrap recycler, at USD 255/MT CFR for HMS 1 (scrap grade) and the cargo is expected to berth at the North port of Incheon by July'20, as per reports.

Prior to this, the last major deal from Australia was when Hyundai Steel had concluded a booking of 30000 MT of bulk cargo at around USD 261/MT in early Feb'20. Notably, the latest booking's price, when converted to on arrival price in local currency, is around 15,000 Korean Won higher than of Dongkuk Steel's bids for domestic scrap (Weight A).

Other Bookings:
This week, several bookings by Korean steelmakers including Dongkuk Steel were also reported from Russia and Japan. Russian A3 scrap was booked at USD 239/MT CFR, rising by USD 9 /MT, while Japanese H2 scrap was booked at JPY 23,000/MT FoB Japan, (USD 215), up by another JPY 500/MT CFR since last week closing. The purchase price of Russian A3 scrap and Japanese H2 scrap on arrival is reported to be at around USD 239/MT and USD 234/MT respectively.

After the Kanto export tender's result early this week witnessed bids increasing by JPY 1820/MT (USD 17) to JPY 22476/MT (USD 209), export offers of Japanese scrap were expected to rise further. Dongkuk Steel has recently continued to trade with Japanese and Russian suppliers almost every week now, and now fresh bookings by Hyundai steel in the coming days will give further direction to the market.

`Inputs from Steeldaily