Prices of containerized imported ferrous scrap fell amid slow finished steel demand. Also, a switch to bulk buying from US, Russia and Japan due to container shortage lowered containerized scrap purchases. Many steel mills are under annual maintenance and are expected to resume scrap buying after Lunar New Year holidays. Few steel mills have reduced bids due to a decline in scrap and ore prices in other Asian countries and a delay in scrap purchases by Turkish mills.
The weekly Davis Index for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20), Wednesday, settled at $361/mt cfr South Korea down $19/mt from the prior week. Bids were at $355-360/mt cfr, down by $15-20/mt with no deals heard this week.
The weekly Davis Indexes for P&S 5ft and #1 HMS, Wednesday, dropped by $20/mt and $19/mt to $383/mt and $361/mt cfr South Korea, respectively. The index for shredded fell by $26/mt to $374/mt from the prior week. Traders indicated that Korean mills might start purchasing containerised scrap in mid-February after holidays.
South Korean Hyundai steel purchased 30,000mt bulk scrap from Russia at $391/mt cfr and 45,000mt of mix grades from the US at $398/mt cfr for March shipments. Traders anticipate further fall on in Japanese export prices. With Turkish mills delaying scrap buying and the index down $13/mt on Tuesday from Jan 27, importers prefer to wait till the end of holidays.
Bids for Japanese #2 HMS were at JPY35,000/mt fob ($333/mt) on Wednesday, down by JPY1,500/mt from the prior week.
On Wednesday, domestic scrap bids fell by KRW10,000/mt ($9/mt) with domestic Heavy A trading at KRW415,000/mt delivered Incheon in line with the drop in global scrap prices.
($1=KRW1,116; JPY105)