Japanese steel scrap suppliers are limiting the volume of material they are offering to the market, in the expectation of a short-term recovery in prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 24.
"The supply side is stopping new offers and they feel the market will not decrease anymore," a Japanese steel scrap trader said.
A second trading source added: "The Japanese domestic scrap market has weakened, but maybe now prices have hit the bottom."
Fastmarkets' price assessment for
steel scrap H2, export, fob main port Japan was ?40,000-41,000 ($368-377) per tonne on Wednesday, down ?1,000 per tonne from ?41,000-42,000 per tonne a week earlier.
Sources said that offers came in at ?41,000-42,000 per tonne fob, unchanged week on week, while bids from South Korea dropped to ?39,000 per tonne fob.
Key Japanese scrap buyer Tokyo Steel has made seven price reductions in March 2020, with the most recent...