Ferrous Scrap Price Rises by 1,000 yen/t in Tokyo

Ferrous scrap purchase price by electric furnace steel makers around Tokyo increased by 1,000 yen or 4.2% to 24,500-25,500 yen per tonne for H2 grade from last week. Some pay as much as 26,000 yen. The price increased due to higher export price along with purchase price hike by Japanese largest electric furnace steel maker, Tokyo Steel Manufacturing on Tuesday. Tokyo Steel increased the purchase price by 500 yen per tonne at Utsunomiya plant and Tokyo based flat bar maker, Daisan Seiko increased the price by 1,000 yen on Tuesday. Tokyo Tekko’s Oyama plant increased the price by 500 yen for new cutting scrap and by 1,000 yen for other grades and Tokyo Kohtetsu, Daiwa Steel’s plant in Saitama and Jonan Steel increased scrap purchase price by 1,000 yen on Wednesday. Chiyoda-Steel increased the price by 800 yen for heavy scrap and Saitama based flat bar maker, Chuo Atsuen increased scrap purchase price by 500 yen on Wednesday. Increasing Japanese scrap export price lifted the market price. The export price is increasing at FAS 24,300-24,500 yen per tonne. The export is likely to keep leading the market price when the export order backlog is said to be more than 200,000 tonnes to ship from Tokyo.Higher output of Tokyo Steel is a part of factors for the increasing scrap price. The hot coil output is expected to reach 70,000-80,000 tonnes in April, which is 40% higher than in March. The output could reach 100,000 tonnes in May due to higher export. The firm tries to secure scrap at higher price to make more products lifting the market price.