Japan Ferrous Scrap Export Price Drops by 17,100 yen/t

Japanese ferrous scrap export price plunged by 17,100 yen per tonne at monthly export tender held by Kanto Tetsugen on Tuesday when the successful bid was FAS 50,650 yen per tonne for H2 grade from Tokyo bay for September shipment. It was the first drop in 9 months and the largest drop in the tender history. Four exporters won the tender at 51,200 yen per tonne, 51,100 yen, 50,200 yen and 50,100 yen respectively to ship 20,000 tonnes by October 15. The scrap dealers’ group increased the volume by 15,000 tonnes under domestic oversupply. Six exporters of 16 eligible firms submitted 8 bids with 55,000 tonnes of volume, which was 15,000 tonnes lower than previous tender. Offshore buyers were reluctant to import high priced Japanese scrap since end of June. A trader said South Korean steel makers reduce the import when they secured requirement. Scrap supply around Tokyo is easy with slower export shipping and lower local consumption under seasonal maintenance outage. Local electric furnace steel makers around Tokyo reduced the scrap purchase price by 12,000 yen to around 60,000 yen per tonne in a month. The tender’s result reflected such trend. Kanto Tetsugen said the local supply will ease when local makers plan outage next week. The dealers’ group expects the market couldn’t rebound for a while.