An oversupply of scrap in the spot market continued to force prices down in the week ended Friday September 20, with numerous cargoes from Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States' West Coast (USWC) offered to buyers in Southeast Asia.
The premium of $10 per tonne which USWC-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) typically commands over Japanese H2-grade scrap has disappeared in the face of stiff price competition.Any sentiment that prices have bottomed out has vanished after market chatter was heard that the key import market in Turkey had purchased a European cargo at $223 per tonne cfr.VietnamFastmarkets' price assessment for bulk shipments of steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam, was $260-265 per tonne on September 20, down by $5 per tonne from a week earlier.Bulk cargoes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the USWC were in close competition with Japanese H2 materials this week, with both being offered at $260-265 per tonne cfr Vietnam.These offers were down by about $10 per tonne week on week, in line with falling prices in other bellwether markets such as at the docksides in the US and in the import...