Weekly round-up: Global scrap prices show downtrend amid low steel demand

The global scrap market continued to show a downtrend w-o-w as steel demand remained on the lower side.

The Turkish market saw a few deals after being muted for a couple of weeks. A continuous decline in the Vietnamese scrap market was witnessed due to a fall in steel demand. Hyundai Steel paused bidding for Japanese scrap for straight three weeks in a row. South Asian scrap trading remained moderate, while most of the offers from suppliers continued to fall on the back of bearish global sentiments.

• Turkey's imported scrap prices drop again: Turkish scrap import market witnessed limited deals being concluded at low offers as the Eid holidays approach. Notably, considering the absence of Turkish buyers in the last couple of weeks, imported scrap offers have dropped significantly by around $60-70/t in a week.
  
  

SteelMint's assessment for the US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) is now at $560/t CFR levels.

• Vietnam imported scrap prices fall: Imported scrap offers to Vietnam continue to remain subdued for the straight fourth week of the month. Limited demand and sufficient scrap supply led to a drop in imported scrap offers. However, trade remained slow as buyers halted, awaiting a further price correction to match the raw material and finished steel prices.
  
  

Japanese scrap suppliers have lowered their offers significantly to $570/t levels for bulk H2, down around $20/t w-o-w.

• Japanese export trade absent ahead of holidays: Japan's scrap export trade remained absent for another week with limited inquiries received from overseas buyers. Additionally, domestic market sentiments were negative ahead of the Golden Week holidays. SteelMint's assessment for Japanese H2 scrap export prices stands at JPY 64,000/t ($492/t) FOB, down by JPY 2,000/t ($15/t) w-o-w.
  
  
• Tokyo Steel bids for Utsunomiya works unchanged: Tokyo Steel hiked scrap purchase prices for the third time this month. The company increased bids by $4/t for Utsunomiya works, while prices for the rest of the plants remained unchanged. The company's bid price for H2 scrap stood at JPY 66,500/t ($526/t) delivered to Utsunomiya which came into effect last week.
  
  
• Pakistan's imported scrap prices fall on weak sentiments: Imported scrap trade into Pakistan has remained slow throughout the Ramadan month so far. Buyers remained less active in booking fresh cargo from the UK. However, a few deals were concluded for US-origin material. Although trade was lower, enough offers were available in the market. Meanwhile, global sentiments were muted too.
  
  

SteelMint's assessment for shredded scrap import prices stood at $595/t CFR, a decrease of $40-45/t on a w-o-w basis.

• Bangladesh scrap demand dip: Mills have limited scrap inventory, but due to the subdued domestic steel market, mills have enough finished steel stock for at least the next 1-2 weeks. Hence, the imported scrap market is quiet ahead of the Eid holidays. It is expected that buyers will get back for fresh bookings after the holidays.
  
  

The bulk scrap market was mostly quiet throughout the month. Prices have decreased on the back of limited buying activities due to fall in finished steel prices and drop in Turkey's scrap prices.

SteelMint's bulk US HMS prices were assessed at $595/t CFR, lower by $60/t w-o-w. Whereas, offers for UK-origin shredded in containers were at $615-620/t CFR levels, registering a sharp fall of around $35-40/t w-o-w.

• India imported scrap prices fall: India's imported scrap market remained less active with just HMS trade being seen considering the drop in offers. However, shredded scrap deals remained limited in the absence of firm bids. Due to a tremendous volatile market and liquidity crunch, a few buyers are not making any deals for imported scrap at lower rates as higher fraud risks are involved.
  
  

UK-origin shredded is being offered at $605-610/t CFR levels, moving down significantly by around $40/t w-o-w.