Posted on 07 Oct 2024
East Asian scrap import markets are awaiting China’s return from the Golden Week holiday, Kallanish notes. Supplier are withdrawing offers and regional traders are bracing for prices to hike further in tandem with the Turkish scrap market.
“It is more likely that the Taiwan scrap market will go up,” a Taipei scrap trader says. The Taiwanese scrap market bottomed out in the past week. The trader says he is seeing fewer offers for US container scrap and Japanese bulk scrap. International scrap markets such as Turkey are reacting positively to the roll-out of the Chinese government stimulus package, he notes.
However, some others think that weak finished steel demand will hold back scrap price increases. Although offers for container scrap have fallen, scrap values will remain flat, another Taiwanese trader notes. “Finished steel product prices cannot go up,” he explains.
In Vietnam, offers for Japanese H2 grade scrap have risen to $330-340/t cfr, up from $325-330/t cfr during the week through 27 September. There were no H2 scrap deals for the past two weeks, a trader says.
A mill manager in Vietnam is unsure if buyers will now accept $330/t cfr. "Most buyers are waiting for China to return from holiday," he observes. “Construction steel prices in Vietnam haven’t increased yet.” But he believes that $320/t cfr "should have been workable" during the 27 September week.
Bulk HMS 1/2 80:20 from the US West Coast is currently offered to Vietnam at around $370/t cfr. Bulk US scrap recently bottomed at about $350-355/t cfr. Offers for Hong Kong HMS 1&2 50:50 scrap are prevailing at $335-345/t cfr Vietnam.
Source:Kallanish
