The Vietnamese steel market remained in a state of shutdown during the week ended Friday July 30 due to a worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country, which limited interest in imported scrap, sources told Fastmarkets.

The Turkish steel mills continued to limit their deep-sea scrap bookings in the week ended Friday July 16 due to weak finished steel sales, while the downturn in the country had a knock-on effect on prices in the global markets.

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) is leading an industry-wide pushback against the country’s proposed export tax of 5% on steel billet, it said on Friday July 23.

Automotive producers are likely to be the first downstream sector to shift toward using “green steel,” Saudi Arabian steel producer Sulb Co's chief executive Ravi Singh told delegates at the Singapore Steel Forum 2021 on Wednesday July 14.

Fastmarkets proposes to launch two indices for cfr China ferrous scrap prices.

Asian steel scrap imports fluctuated wildly from territory to territory in 2020, with South Korea and Bangladesh reporting decreases while Taiwan and Vietnam recorded increases.

Robust demand for steel scrap in the Japanese domestic market is supporting Japanese export prices, creating a wide bid-offer gap and making it very tough for Chinese buyers to clinch any deals, sources told Fastmarkets.

Steel scrap buyers in Vietnam sought out deep-sea bulk cargoes from the United States and Australia in the week to Friday June 25 amid high offers for Japanese material, sources told Fastmarkets.

Global scrap prices in the key markets diverged in the week to Friday June 18, with those in Asia moving upward, while Turkish scrap prices fell amid slow buying driven by uncertainty over finished steel sales.

The steel mills in Bangladesh have picked up a raft of containerized scrap cargoes at higher prices over the past week, preferring boxes over bulk cargoes, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 17.