Japanese ferrous scrap export prices have risen over the past week amid tightening supplies and healthy demand from Vietnamese buyers, sources in Japan told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets' inaugural price assessment for steel scrap H2 export, fob main port Japan was ?24,000-24,500 ($219-223) per tonne fob Tokyo Bay on February 19, up by around ?500-1,000 per tonne from prices heard last week.
In the
first two weeks of February, Japanese export scrap prices had been pushed downward by low local demand and slow buying in key importer markets due to coronavirus-driven jitters.
So stark was the downturn that bellwether scrap buyer Tokyo Steel dropped its scrap purchase prices for H2-grade scrap by ?4,500 in the three weeks from January 24 to February 14.
But, faced with continually falling prices, Japan's scrap collectors have started to hit back and are now demanding higher prices to supply material to yards.
"Collection levels...