Global Ferrous Scrap Market Overview - Week 40, 2019

Turkey - Turkish imported scrap prices marginally moved down this week in fresh bookings for a couple of deep-sea cargo vessels, when trades picked up again after remaining subdued for over a week. The market believes the prices to have more-or-less stabilized at these levels for the short term

In recent deals reported, a Marmara region-based steelmaker booked a bulk vessel with 40,000 MT of mixed cargo scrap from a USA based supplier, comprising of 33,000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 226/MT CFR and 7,000 MT of Shredded at USD 231/MT CFR Turkey, for November shipment. Another booking from UK Supplier was heard for 18,000 MT for HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 223.5/MT CFR for November shipment.

Assessment of US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap has inched down to USD 226/MT, CFR Turkey, slightly down by USD 2/MT against last week's report. While assessment of European origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) also stands stable at around USD 220/MT, CFR Turkey. Imported scrap prices continue to stand at 3 - year low levels.

South Korea - Leading EAF steelmaker, Hyundai Steel kept away from bidding for Japanese scrap this week. Last week the company lowered its purchase bids for Japanese scrap by another JPY 1,000/MT today. In bids presented last week for Japanese scrap, the company has reduced H2 scrap bids to JPY 24,000/MT FoB Japan

This week, Hyundai Steel booked 45,000 MT HMS 1 scrap from USA recently for Dec shipment, which concluded at USD 244/MT, CFR. With the said booking, price for bulk scrap bookings have come down by around USD 30. Prior to this in mid Sept'19, Hyundai Steel booked 45,000 HMS 1 scrap from US for Nov shipment at USD 275/MT, CFR basis.

In another recent bulk booking made, South Korea's Dongkuk Steel has booked 30,000 MT HMS 1 Scrap from US at USD 245/MT, CFR for Nov shipment.

Japan - After keeping its purchase price unchanged last week, Japan’s EAF mini-mill Tokyo Steel, lowered its scrap purchase price at 4 of its works (except Kyushu works), by JPY 500/MT (USD 5), from 4th Oct'19.

The company will now pay JPY 23,000/MT (USD 215 ) for H2 scrap delivered at its Tahara plant in Central Japan and Utsunomiya plant in Kanto region, while the new price for Okayama plant and Takamatsu steel centre stand at JPY 21000/MT (USD 196 ) and JPY 20,000/MT (USD 187 ) respectively. The price for H2 delivery to Kyushu works remains unchanged at JPY 23,500/MT (USD 219).

Japan’s Kansai Federation concluded its monthly tender for October’19, this week on 1st Oct’19. The winning bid by ‘Arahoe’ was awarded a total 5,000 MT of Japanese H2 at an average of JPY 23,030/MT (USD 215), FAS. The current bid is JPY 240/MT (USD 2) lower than the previous tender result on 17th Sep’19.

Market participants now await the Kanto Tetsugen tender for Oct'19 scheduled on 09th Oct'19 to get a clear outlook on export prices.

Indonesia - Offers for imported scrap to Indonesia moved down again last week. Buyer’s bids for P&S scrap from the UK, as well as Brazil origin P&S scrap, now stands at USD 260-265/MT CFR Jakarta with limited bookings being reported in the week.

Busheling scrap from the UK, as well as Brazilian suppliers, are being offered at around USD 270-275/MT, down by over USD 10/MT w-o-w. Few offers for Bluesteel stood at around USD 275/MT CFR Jakarta.

Shredded scrap from North America and Europe dropped by another USD 10/MT with offers of USA & UK origin Shredded scrap in containers standing at USD 250/MT, CFR Jakarta

Vietnam - Following the the global decline, the Vietnamese market also continued to drop last week, with prices falling further all through the week.

Japanese H2 scrap is being offered at around USD 250/MT CFR Vietnam, down USD 5-10/MT against the previous week, while other grades from Japan included HS at USD 285/MT and Shindachi scrap at USD 275/MT CFR Vietnam, in bulk vessels.

India - Imported scrap trades to India remained active this week, with steel-mills looking to actively restock while the global market is down. Offers remained mostly stable this week, following the successive downtrend in prices for several weeks, while buying activity likely to rise further in coming days.

SteelMint’s assessment for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and USA to India stands at USD 250-255/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, down USD 3-4/MT against last week. Amid active trades, around 5,000 MT of Shredded scrap was sold at around USD 254-255/MT CFR by one major UK supplier alone, while few other European suppliers offered at USD 3-4/MT lower.

HMS scrap offers marginally inched down, as HMS 1 offers from Dubai were reported at around USD 250-253/MT, CFR while HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers from European & Australian origin were reported in the range of 237-240/MT CFR. South African HMS 1 remained at around USD 260/MT CFR, while few bookings for West African origin HMS were heard to Goa, at USD 240/MT CFR Goa, i.e USD 230-235/MT CFR Nhava Sheva.

Pakistan - Imported scrap offers to Pakistan from global suppliers continued to drop on a weekly basis while several bookings were reported amid healthy buying activity observed this week.

Assessment for containerized Shredded 211 scrap from UK/Europe stands at USD 250-252/MT, CFR Qasim, down by USD 3-5/MT against the last week closing. Few buyers were also bidding below USD 250/MT levels to pull down the prices further. Trades of imported HMS saw a slight improvement, as few bookings of Dubai origin HMS were reported, even as the offers for the same are currently higher than Shredded scrap. Few bookings Dubai origin HMS 1 (super) were reported at around USD 258-260/MT, while a deal for higher quality HMS (Sarya) was reported at USD 267/MT CFR this week.

Domestic finished steel prices inched down, especially for the South (Karachi) based mills while domestic scrap showed improvement on increased buying activity this week.

Bangladesh - Imported scrap offers to Bangladesh fell sharply again this week, as lower bids from many steel-mills pulled down the prices further. Buying remained slow in the earlier half of the week, however trades picked up as the week progressed quite a few bookings in in containers being reported.

Assessment for containerized Shredded scrap from Europe and North America stands in the range of USD 260-265/MT, CFR Chittagong, down by another USD 5-10/MT against last week, with most trades being concluded at around USD 262-263/MT levels.

HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Brazil and European origins was being offered at around USD 250/MT CFR, down by around USD 8/MT w-o-w, with a further drop being expected on account of lower buying interest. Offers for higher quality HMS 1 from South African and Australian Origin now stands at USD 255/MT CFR, falling by USD 10/MT on a weekly basis. P&S offers from Brazil are currently standing at around USD 265/MT CFR, almost on par with Shredded scrap offers