Japan steel scrap exporters struggle to find buyers despite price drop

Exporters of steel scrap from Japan are finding it increasingly difficult to find buyers for their material at acceptable prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 10.

Wednesday saw another price decrease at major buyer Tokyo Steel, which will drop its buy prices by ?500 ($4) per tonne across all grades and all works with effect from November 11. This will be the third decrease so far in November, and will mean that Tokyo Steel's Utsunomiya works will pay ?55,500 ($491) per tonne delivered for H2-grade material.
Even excluding delivery costs, the local market remains higher than the export market, where bids, and limited tonnages of deals, were heard late last week at ?51,500 per tonne fob for bulk H2.
These higher local prices, which were partially supporting dockside prices, have continued to muzzle the export trade. Wednesday's Kanto Tetsugen scrap auction was aborted with no winner when suppliers rejected the highest bid price of ?51,200 per tonne on an fas basis for H2.

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