Export prices for Japan-origin plate and structural (P&S) grades of ferrous scrap rose by ?500 ($5) per tonne week on week on Wednesday April 29, with tighter supplies over recent weeks keeping the values up, sources have told Fastmarkets.
Japanese scrap collection has decreased over recent months, and was now affecting both prime and obsolete grades of material.
Plant closures among car manufacturers and reduced output at fabrication shops started to curtail collection volumes of Shindachi busheling from mid-March onward, sources said, leading to
support for prices of the prime grade from late March.
New export deals for Shindachi have since then almost ground to a halt, while exporters have focused on obtaining enough of the high-grade material to fulfil outstanding contracts, Fastmarkets understands.
But the slowdown in Japanese economic activity, combined with the state of emergency introduced in key economic centers such as Osaka and Tokyo in early April, has also increased the pressure on obsolete scrap collection.
The obsolete grade most heavily affected to date has been P&S, which is comprised of cut structural and steel plate, and which largely relies on the completion of demolition work...