Spot prices for Japanese H2 scrap in Vietnam softened in the latter half of this week after Tokyo Steel, a major buyer of the steelmaking raw material in Japan, slashed the amount it would pay for it.
But prices for heavy melting scrap in Taiwan started to strengthen at the start of the week on a rebounding scrap market in Turkey, and held steady thereafter due to thin market liquidity.The mixed signals left market participants slightly confused with their price outlook. While some said prices could continue to trend upward after the United States' Independence Day holiday, others said softer markets in Japan and the rest of Asia could keep this from happening.VietnamFastmarkets' price assessment for bulk shipments of steel scrap HMS1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $302-305 per tonne cfr on Friday July 5, unchanged from a week earlier.Market participants were still mainly focused on buying Japanese H2 scrap this week instead of HMS 1&2 materials from the US West Coast, since there was no supply of the latter.A transaction involving Japanese H2 scrap was...