Holiday absences in the key markets of South Korea and Japan have limited spot trading in ferrous scrap in the week ended Friday August 16, with only a limited number of transactions heard concluded to Taiwan.
Japanese exporters were not offering much material because most market participants were on vacation."Sellers in both the United States and Japan will probably lower their offers next week, when the market re-opens," a buyer source in Asia told Fastmarkets. "Look at the state of the entire ferrous industry - prices are heading downhill very quickly."VietnamFastmarkets' price assessment for bulk shipments of steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam, was $310-315 per tonne cfr on August 16, unchanged from a week earlier.Bulk cargoes of HMS-grade material from the US West Coast were offered around $315 per tonne cfr Vietnam during the week, and so too were materials from Singapore.But there were no transactions for imported HMS 1&2 (80:20) heard this week. Market sources said that prices were unchanged due to the limited spot trading."The spot market has been very quiet after...