Electric Furnaces Increase Ferrous Scrap Buying Price

Electric furnace steel makers increased the ferrous scrap purchase price by 3,000 yen per tonne to 17,000-18,000 tonnes for H2 grade around Tokyo, some pay as high as 19,000 yen per tonne. Electric furnaces are widening the output reduction ranges, but ferrous scrap generation volume keeps stagnant and ferrous scrap export price is exceeding domestic makers’ purchase price.

Dealers’ purchasing volume of ferrous scrap keeps low. Some dealers are shipping scrap to exporters when the export price is higher than domestic makers’ purchase price.

Utsunomiya works of Tokyo Steel Manufacturing raised the purchase price by 3,000 yen to 19,000 yen per tonne on Saturday. Other makers followed the hike, too. Their purchase prices surged by 8,000-9,000 yen in a past month.

Around Osaka, electric furnace steel makers left the purchase price unchanged when they are reducing the output by a large margin. Their purchase price is 15,000-16,000 yen per tonne for H2, some pay as high as 16,500 yen. A dealer source said dealers’ scrap shipment volume is decreasing by 30-40% compared with usual years.