Japan Ferrous Scrap Export Price Rises to FAS 30,585 Yen/t

Ferrous scrap export successful bid was averagely FAS 30,585 yen per tonne for H2 grade at the monthly tender held by Kanto Tetsugen for February shipment on Wednesday. The price upped by 4,827 yen from the previous tender. The price is higher than domestic steel makers’ purchasing price by 4,000 yen. A dealer source said domestic market price would be pulled up by high export price. The averaged successful tender price reached 30,000 yen for the first time since August 2009. The bid volume kept flat at 20,000 tonnes from the previous tender.

Four bidders won the tender with the bids at 30,630 yen per tonne, 30,600 yen, 30,580 yen and 30,530 yen respectively. The bidders will ship each 5,000 tonnes of scrap by March 15th. Fourteen exporters out of 16 eligible exporters submitted 25 bids. Ten bids were higher than 30,000 yen per tonne.

Local electric furnace steel makers currently purchase H2 at 26,000-27,000 yen per tonne around Tokyo. The price rebounded after 2 months to follow strong upsurge of scrap export price to East Asia.

Newly contracted export price is around FOB 29,000-30,000 yen per tonne. Steel makers in South Korea, Taiwan or China are increasing the purchase of Japanese ferrous scrap when Japanese ferrous scrap price is lower than US ferrous scrap price.