Global Ferrous Scrap Market Overview: Week 50, 2019

Global ferrous scrap market witnessed an upwards trend for yet another week most of the major markets this week. Turkey observed one of its most active weeks in the last few months even as the prices kept climbing up every day, while offers for South Asian Markets increased by similar proportions although demand stood limited. Japanese Tokyo Steel observed hiked its scrap purchase bids this week, while China’s Shagang Steel dropped its purchase price.

Turkey - Over the course of this week, imported scrap offers to Turkey surged up by USD 18 /MT successive in one deal after another, many deep-sea cargo bookings were reported to have concluded this week amid very active winter restocking by most major mills.

In the latest deal concluded yesterday, an Aegean based steel mill booked a mixed cargo of 30000 MT of bulk vessel from scrap recycling yard located in Baltic region, comprising of 24000 MT of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 299.5/MT, 3500 MT of bonus at USD 310/MT and 2500 MT of bushelling at USD 315/MT CFR Turkey. Another booking of mixed cargo by a West Marmara region-based steelmaker, from USA yard, comprising of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at USD 300/MT, CFR, Shredded at USD 305/MT and bonus at USD 310 /MT, CFR Turkey.

Assessment for US-origin HMS (80:20), currently stands at USD 300/MT, CFR Turkey, increased by USD 11-12/MT since last week. The assessment from Europe currently stands at USD 295/MT CFR.

Japan - Japan’s leading-Tokyo Steel has hiked its scrap purchase bids this week by JPY 500-1000/MT (USD 5-9) at all of its 5 works. This is the third successive price hike of this month.

The company is now paying JPY 25,000 /MT (USD 230) for H2 scrap delivered at Tahara plant in the central region, Kyushu works in the western region and Utsunomiya works located in the Kanto region.

Japan’s monthly Kanto Tender for Dec’19 was concluded this week, in which a total of 23,000 MT of Japanese H2 scrap was awarded at an average of JPY 25,804/MT (USD 237), FAS, as compared to JPY 24,307/MT (USD 223) in Nov 2019, witnessing a significant rise JPY 1,497/MT (USD 14) in the winning bids on a monthly basis.

China - China’s Shagang Steel announced first price cuts this week for Dec’19 for their scrap purchase by RMB 30/MT (USD 4). After the said price cut, Shagang Steel is now paying RMB 2,700/MT (USD 384) inclusive of 13% VAT for HMS (6-10 mm thickness) delivered to headquarters works situated in Zhangjiagang north of Shanghai in China, down by RMB 30/MT (USD 4) against the last report.

India - Imported scrap offers to India moved up sharply all through this week, on a contentious global uptrend. Apart from few trades in Mumbai and Goa markets, buying stood slow as high availability of domestic scrap at significantly lower price levels, kept most buyers away from imported scrap.

Assessment for containerized Shredded from the UK, Europe and the USA to India surged to USD 300-304/MT, CFR Nhava Sheva, up by around USD 10/MT against last week, with very few deals of shredded being concluded at USD 302-303/MT for CFR Nhava Sheva this week.

Offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Europe now stand at around USD 275/MT CFR up by USD 5-6/MT w-o-w, while Australian HMS offers stood at USD 280/MT+ levels CFR. No major offers for South African material were observed this week.UAE origin HMS 1 super (no ci gi) from Dubai was reported at around USD 280/MT CFR Nhava Sheva with few sales reported. West African HMS 1&2 (80:20) was sold in decent quantity at around USD 270-271/MT CFR Goa earlier in the week, while offers now stand at USD 275/MT CFR Goa.

Pakistan - Imported scrap offers to Pakistan escalated sharply all through the week while trades witnessed a slight rise in comparison to previous weeks, with steel mills actively restocking ahead of winter vacations.

Assessment for containerized Shredded 211 scrap from UK/Europe presently stands in the range USD 302-303/MT, CFR Qasim, climbing up by around USD 10-12/MT against the closing of last week, and by USD 4-5/MT compared to the opening of the week. By the latter half of the week, trades had concluded at the said range from the UK and European suppliers.

HMS scrap offers to Pakistan also witnessed a rise, with HMS 1 (super) from Dubai currently being reported in the range of USD 285/MT, up USD 5/MT against last week, while HMS 1 from other origins is now being quoted by suppliers at around USD 290/MT CFR.

Bangladesh - Imported scrap offers to Bangladesh have slightly increased this week following the global price hike, although only a few offers were available in the market on tight supply and the buyers too remained less interested for active procurement.

The assessment for Shredded scrap in containers from Europe at around USD 310/MT, CFR Chittagong, up by USD 5/MT W-o-W, with buying interest remaining quite low.