Sentiment in Vietnam’s import scrap market is still negative. Market sources report that most steel mills have high levels of scrap inventories and do not want to buy at the moment. Other Vietnamese producers have shown demand for scrap, but their bids are very weak, down $5-7/mt as compared to previous weeks. Japanese scrap suppliers working with Vietnam have indicated that the fall in the international market is not helping the situation, with one supplier commenting, “Basically, Vietnam’s production is not in good shape. Maybe they would like to procure cheaper scrap.”
Vietnamese buyers are receiving offers for Japanese grade H2 scrap in the range of $390-400/mt CFR. A small increase in offer prices has been observed since February 16, but this rise is the result of the weaker Japanese yen, market sources report. Offer levels for Japanese HS have also moved up to $420-430/mt CFR. A Japanese source stated, “Scrap availability in Japan is not good due to some problems at car manufacturers, so mills cannot stop their scrap purchases.” Car manufacturers are an important source of scrap in Japan.
Meanwhile, ex-US West Coast containerized HMS I/II 80:20 scrap remains at $370/mt CFR Vietnam fixed in deals, down $5/mt as compared to February 16. Ex-US West Coast HMS I/II 80:20 offers for bulk cargoes to Vietnam are at $400/mt CFR, down $5/mt over the past two weeks. A Vietnamese source said they are not hearing bids for bulk ex-US scrap.
SteelOrbis’ reference price for ex-Japan H2 scrap has remained stable at JPY 51,500-54,100/mt ($341-359/mt). Dollar-based prices have declined by $2/mt on the lower end and by $1/mt on the upper end. The lower end is represented by offers received by Taiwan, while the upper end is represented by Vietnamese buyers’ ideas for this grade.
$1 = JPY 150.61