A higher auction price at Japan’s Kanto Tetsugen, a cooperative of scrap dealers in the Tokyo area, will likely support further price increases.

Bulk cargoes of Japanese H2 scrap were offered to Vietnam at $455-460 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week, up by $10-17 per tonne from last week. Sources told Fastmarkets early this week that transactions involving such cargoes had been concluded at $443 per tonne cfr Vietnam late last week.

Key suppliers of H2 scrap were adamant about selling at $455 per tonne cfr Vietnam by Friday, and refused to give any discounts. A transaction was heard to have been concluded at this price during the week.

The April Kanto Tetsugen auction was concluded on Friday at ¥404 ($3.65) per tonne higher month on month, with four 5,000-tonne parcels of H2 scrap each priced at ¥43,380 per tonne. All of the cargoes are bound for Vietnam.

A transaction involving a bulk cargo of Japanese H1&H2 scrap (50:50) was concluded at $452 per tonne cfr Vietnam at the start of this week. This is equivalent to around $458 per tonne cfr Vietnam for Japanese H2 scrap.

But sources said prices for Japan-origin material had increased since then.

Bulk cargoes of Hong Kong-origin H1&H2 (50:50) was offered at $445 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week. Bulk cargoes of Japanese HS scrap was offered at $485 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment of steel scrap H2, Japan-origin import, cfr Vietnam was $448-455 per tonne on Friday April 9, up by $5-13 per tonne from a week earlier.

Prices for steel products such as wire rod, rebar and billet in Vietnam will increase by an average of about 300 Dong per kg - about $13 per tonne - from April 11 as a result of a price revision by mills in the country, a Vietnamese trader told Fastmarkets.

For instance, a major Vietnamese mill will offer 12-32mm CB300-V/SD295 rebar at 15.18 million Dong per tonne, and 12-32mm CB400-V/SD390 rebar at 10.05 million Dong per tonne, both excluding value-added tax, the trader said. These are for deferred payments of seven days; buyers making immediate payment will pay 50,000 Dong per kg lower, he added.

The mill will also offer 6mm CB240-T wire rod at 15.33 million Dong per tonne, and 7-8mm CB40-T wire rod at 15.28 million Dong per tonne, all excluding VAT, the trader continued.

Exporters of Vietnamese billet are also seeing good demand from China. A major billet producer in Vietnam has received bids of up to $650 per tonne fob from Chinese buyers. This is equivalent to around $680 per tonne cfr China.

The optimism has spilled over into the deep-sea scrap market.

Offers for deep-sea cargoes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) from the United States were at $460-465 per tonne cfr Vietnam at the start of this week. Key market participants said sellers in the US were likely to be willing to sell at $455-460 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

But by Friday, offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) had risen to $466 per tonne cfr Vietnam while those for shredded scrap reached $471 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

A transaction involving a barge of Southeast Asia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was heard to have been concluded at $467 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week. But this was not included in the price assessment because it does not adhere to the specifications of Fastmarkets' methodology with regard to origin and type.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $455-466 per tonne on Friday, up by $1-11 per tonne from $454-455 per tonne on April 1.

Sellers offered US-origin cargoes of containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $425-435 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week. A transaction involving 1,000 tonnes was concluded at $415 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

Containerized shredded scrap and plate and structural scrap were offered at $460 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week.