VIETNAM STEEL SCRAP: Large buy-sell gap haunts spot market

There was limited negotiation in the start of the week due to the Vietnamese Independence Day public holiday on September 2, with market participants not actively in the spot market.

There were transactions concluded at $299 per tonne and $301 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam, as well as at $304 per tonne cfr northern Vietnam. The last two cargoes amounted to slightly less than 20,000 tonnes.

Offers for bulk Japanese H2 cargoes were at $300-310 per tonne cfr northern Vietnam, while southern Vietnamese steel mills were receiving offers at $300 per tonne cfr.

Bids were at $295 per tonne cfr Vietnam, although no sellers accepted such bids.

“There’s a really big mismatch between bids and offers in the spot market. It’s not possible to get reasonably priced materials for buyers at the moment,” a scrap trader in Singapore told Fastmarkets on Friday.

A trader in Vietnam said Vietnamese steel mills would likely need to come back into the spot market soon.

“Regardless of how prices move in the near term, the steel mills will need to replenish their inventories to be able to keep the meltshops running,” a Vietnamese trader told Fastmarkets.

Negotiations for bulk Japanese HS were at $322-327 per tonne cfr Vietnam, with market chatter of a transaction concluded at $325 per tonne cfr Vietnam. Offers were at $330 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment of steel scrap H2, Japan-origin import, cfr Vietnam was $299-301 per tonne on Friday, up $3-6 per tonne from $293-298 per tonne last week.

Deep-sea bulk cargoes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) were offered to Vietnam at $320 per tonne cfr this week, with bulk shredded offered at $325 per tonne cfr Vietnam. Bulk P&S were offered at $330 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

“Many sellers are hiking their offers and taking advantage of the latest prices to Turkey. They are also waiting for the next Kanto Tetsugen auction result to be out before they set their next offers,” a buyer in Vietnam told Fastmarkets on Friday September 4.

There were no bids from buyers for deep-sea bulk materials due to the high offers.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $307 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week due to the absence of spot price negotiations.

Containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was sold at $270-273 per tonne cfr Vietnam.