Posted on 23 Aug 2023
Leading electric arc furnace operator Tokyo Steel has raised its domestic scrap procurement price, Kallanish notes. Buyers in Vietnam are unwilling to pay up for Japanese scrap.
Tokyo Steel’s H2 price was lifted by JPY 1,000 ($7/t) tonne to JPY 51,000/t at its Utsunomiya steelworks, effective 23 August. The Japanese company’s previous H2 price at JPY 50,000/t was unmoved since 12 August. The Japanese steel producer has also raised its prices by JPY 1,000/t at its steelworks at Tahara and Nagoya and also by JPY1,500/t at Okayama and Kyusu. The company's hike is JPY 500/t at Takamatsu.
In Vietnam, a price gap between suppliers and buyers is preventing deals. Sellers are offering H2 scrap at $380-385/t cfr Vietnam but bids are $370-375/t cfr, traders say. Buyers are also bidding lower at $390/t cfr for deep sea HSM 1&2 80:20 which is offered at $400-405/t cfr. There are no deals heard for Hong Kong HMS 1&2 50:50 scrap offered at $370/t cfr, an importer says.
“We cannot match the bids and offers,” a trader in Ho Chi Minh City says. The Vietnamese rebar market is “horrible,” he says. Steel prices are falling nearly every week by the equivalent of $3-4/t due to depressed construction activity resulting from the poor health of the real estate market, he notes. The current rebar price in Vietnam is prevailing at around $570/t ex-works.
Source:Kallanish
