Weekly round-up: Global ferrous scrap prices head south on thin trading

Turkey's imported scrap market concluded a few short sea deals this week. Japan's Tokyo Steel's prices fell thrice during the week by a total of JPY 3,500/t. The South East Asian scrap market demand remained sluggish due to dull finished steel market. The imported scrap market in India and Pakistan concluded multiple deals throughout the week unlike Bangladesh.

• Turkish scrap market witnesses few deals: Turkey's imported scrap market saw few trades as the market was under pressure due to a steep downtrend in domestic and overseas rebar and semi-finished steel markets. Thus, mills have the chance to clinch deals. Nevertheless, the negotiation process remained slow for imported scrap due to weak demand coupled with volatility in the national currency.
  
  

SteelMint's assessment of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) is now at $470/t CFR, down by a further $15-20/t w-o-w.

• Tokyo Steel cuts scrap prices thrice this week by $27/t: Tokyo Steel has cut scrap buy prices three times this week. The company has reduced bids by a total of JPY 3,500/t ($27/t) for all its steelworks. The company's current bid price for H2 scrap stands at JPY 59,000/t ($461/t) delivered to Tahara, while prices for Utsunomiya are at JPY 59,500/t ($465/t).
  
  
• Vietnam imported scrap prices fall on subdued demand: Vietnam's imported scrap offers fell and the market remained mostly quiet due to dull finished steel demand from domestic and overseas buyers. On the other hand, because of the inconclusive Japanese Kanto scrap export tender due to lower bids suppliers are not ready to cut their offers for Japanese H2 material. Hence, Vietnamese buyers are not interested in booking fresh material at high offers.
  
  

Fresh offers for bulk Japanese H2 scrap dropped further by $10/t to $500/t CFR Vietnam over the week.

• Japanese scrap export offers fall on limited bids: Japanese scrap offers continued to decline for yet another week. The fall in export prices is weighing on Japan's domestic prices as well. SteelMint's assessment for Japanese H2 scrap export prices stands at JPY 57,000/t ($445/t) FOB, down JPY 3,000/t ($23/t) w-o-w.
  
  
• Shagang Steel scrap purchase prices unchanged: China's Shagang Jiangsu Steel scrap procurement prices remained stable this week, after a drop of RMB 100/t ($16) last week. Current prices of HMS (6-10mm) stood at RMB 3,920/t ($577/t) delivered to headquarters, including 13% VAT.
  
  
• Pakistan imported scrap prices fall to over 7-month low: Pakistan's imported scrap prices have fallen this week to over 7-month low resulting in buyers turning cautious about procurement as they are expecting a further correction. However, steel mills and buyers secured a few deals keeping in mind the upcoming monsoon season.
  
  

Fresh offers for imported UK-origin shredded are heard offered at $520/t CFR, down significantly by $15-20/t w-o-w.

• Bangladesh's imported scrap slow: Imported scrap offers to Bangladesh remained trended lower with limited deals being concluded, despite prices continuing to be on the lower side. Moreover, sharp currency depreciation continued to weigh on imported scrap trades. Fresh offers for UK-origin shredded are at $540/t CFR, down by over $20/t w-o-w.
  
  

On the other hand, the country's bulk scrap buyers are waiting for a further price correction. However, buyers managed to book a couple of US-origin bulk cargoes at lower offers last week. Meanwhile, Japanese H2 material is still out of the buyers' basket, due to disparity in bids and offers.

• India imported HMS market active: India's imported scrap market remained active this week in terms of imported HMS trades. The country's steel mills and buyers booked multiple scrap cargoes to secure deliveries before the monsoon. Meanwhile, volatility in domestic prices supported imported scrap trades this week.
  
  

Interestingly, buyers preferred imported UAE-origin material, considering the fact that UAE-origin HMS material is more cost-effective. Currently, offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) are now at $490-495/t (INR 38,000-38,400/t) CFR Nhava Sheva and the landed cost will be INR 40,000/t, while domestic HMS 1&2 (80:20) is now available at INR 42,700/t Mumbai.