JAPAN STEEL SCRAP: High-grade prices leap amid stronger demand from S Korea

Export prices for lower-impurity steel scrap grades from Japan jumped over the past week following greater buying interest from South Korean mills, market participants told Fastmarkets.

"The Japanese market is hot right now- a South Korean steelmaker increased its bid price for H1, plate & structural (P&S), Shindachi and shredded, while other mills are negotiating privately and paying [even] more," a Japanese scrap supplier said.
Further price increases for the higher-yield materials could follow in the next weeks, according to a Japanese scrap trader.
"I heard there is a shortage of higher-grade scrap in South Korea, so Japanese suppliers are thinking about collecting more of these materials before the market increases," he said.

Market participants expect another increase in prices at next week's Kanto Tetsugen auction - a co-operative of scrap dealers in the Tokyo region - which...

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