JAPAN SCRAP EXPORTS: Premiums for higher grades soar to new record

The price gap between higher and lower grades of steel scrap continued to widen in the Japan export market over the past week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 8.

Rising demand for heavy scrap (HS) and Shindachi busheling, both from blast-furnace (BF) mills in Japan and buyers in South Korea, has continued to propel prices for these materials upward.
On the other hand, limited demand for lower-grade H2 and H1:H2 material from key scrap buyers Vietnam and Taiwan has kept a firm lid on these prices, with sales for H2 to Vietnam heard at $480-484 per tonne cfr in recent days and a deal heard at $485 per tonne cfr for H1:H2 (50:50) to Taiwan.
Sales of H2 were heard concluded to two Korean mills at ?48,000 ($434) per tonne fob this week, despite most suppliers maintaining their offers no lower than ?50,000 per tonne fob.

"The collection price for H2 decreased a little this week. Rebar demand in Vietnam is pretty weak," a Japanese scrap...

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