The Davis Indexes for dockside ferrous scrap on the US West Coast were unchanged in Los Angeles. but increased in San Francisco and Portland after docks in both cities sought inventories as some exporters were low on scrap stock.
The weekly Davis Indexes in Portland increased for HMS 1&2 (80:20) by $3/gt to $193/gt delivered dockside, remained unchanged for P&S 5ft at $201/gt, and increased for shredder feed by $8/gt to $155/gt delivered.
Quiet deals were heard in the Portland area at higher prices than the index. Regional scrap yards prefer to place tonnage with mills at higher prices than at docks given their substantially lower prices. Mills are paying $20/gt higher for HMS 1&2 (80:20) making it worth the effort for dealers to further process cleaner loads of scrap for mill use.
Japanese domestic scrap prices continued strong into the week, but export prices may have peaked as several US exporters heard that Japanese offers to Taiwan and South Korea were starting to soften.
In Los Angeles, the weekly Davis Indexes for all grades remained unchanged with HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $147/gt delivered dockside, P&S 5ft at $167/gt delivered, and shredder feed at $106/gt delivered.
The indexes in San Francisco increased by $12/gt to $202/gt delivered dockside for HMS 1&2 (80:20) and rose by $14/gt for P&S 5ft to $207/gt delivered. The index for shredder feed also increased by $9/gt to $144/gt delivered.
Bulk scrap deals have continued to strengthen in the past week with the latest transaction reported increasing by $3/mt to $282/mt cfr Korea on an #1 HMS basis. An earlier deal also to Korea on a #1 HMS basis on June 11-12 was transacted at $279/mt cfr.
In the containerized scrap market, prices for HMS 1&2 (80:20) increased by $10/mt from $220-235/mt fas to $230-235/mt fas from Los Angeles. Opinions are mixed at present with a few sellers believing that scrap availability remains tight and will support current or higher prices while others are of the opinion that prices have peaked. A weaker Japanese scrap market, when Asian buyers are expressing concern over their ability to sell sufficient volumes of finished steel goods at recent higher prices, could see the US container market decline $5/mt over the week.