Buyers have started withdrawing from the spot market in key importer Vietnam in the week to Friday January 15 due to growing sentiment of a price downtrend, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Offers for Japanese H2 were at $460 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam and $465 per tonne northern Vietnam, compared with bids at $450-455 per tonne cfr Vietnam.
But buyers remained wary amid expectations of more price falls.
"Given the current price trend, it is much better to wait and see," a buyer source in Vietnam told Fastmarkets.
Bids for bulk Japanese H1&H2 (50:50) were at $460-465 per tonne cfr Vietnam and offers were at $470 per tonne cfr Vietnam before the Kanto Tetsugen auction results.
Market sources feel a definite price downtrend has started and are not looking actively to purchase cargoes.
A major South Korean steel mill had lowered its bid for Japanese scrap, looking for H2 at ?42,000 ($404) per tonne fob this week, causing sentiment to weaken in Asia. It also bid for HS and shredded scrap at ?46,500 per tonne and Shindachi Bara at ?47,500 per tonne.
Major Japanese mini-mill Tokyo Steel had also lowered its bid for ferrous scrap at its Utsunomiya plant by ?1,000 per tonne to ?42,000 per tonne.
"These have caused collection prices in the Tokyo Bay area to fall further to ?40,000-41,000 per tonne," a Japanese trader told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.
Buyers said they received offers for bulk Japanese HS at $482-483 per tonne cfr Vietnam.
Hong Kong-origin H1&H2 (50:50) was offered at $455-460 per tonne cfr Vietnam.
Domestic scrap of 3mm thickness and below was being sold at 9,000-9,200 Dong ($389.40-398.05) per kg.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
steel scrap H2, Japan-origin import, cfr Vietnam was $450-460 per tonne on Friday, widening downward by $10 per tonne from $460 per tonne a
week earlier.
Offers for bulk cargoes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the United States fell continually throughout the week.
While traders said offers were at $490 per tonne cfr Vietnam mid-week, with bids at $480-485 per tonne cfr Vietnam, buyers said they had received offers at $480 per tonne cfr Vietnam for HMS 1&2 (80:20), at $485 per tonne cfr Vietnam for shredded and $490 per tonne cfr Vietnam by Friday.
Bids also fell to $473 per tonne cfr Vietnam by Friday.
Estimates that market prices were at $485 per tonne cfr Vietnam earlier in the week were no longer valid, sources said.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for
deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $473-480 per tonne on Friday, down by $5-12 per tonne week on week from $485 per tonne.
Containerized cargoes were offered at $445 per tonne cfr Vietnam, with bids at $440 per tonne cfr Vietnam in the earlier part of the week.
A transaction at $440 per tonne cfr Vietnam for US-origin material was heard concluded on Thursday. Market participants said negotiations for containerized cargoes were mainly at $440-445 per tonne cfr Vietnam.