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.

Growing steel demand presents an opportunity for a scrap pricing supercycle in the next decade, writes Bill Beck, reporting on the Fastmarkets virtual Scrap, DRI, and Mini-Mills conference in mid-April.

With long steel prices in Europe reaching historically high levels, construction activity is slowing in some regions due to reduced supplies and delays, with some market sources fearing a decline in industrial activity long term.

Prices for steel scrap imported into China rebounded after bullish sentiment dominated Chinese steel markets on Friday June 11, sources told Fastmarkets.

Buyers of bulk cargoes of scrap imports in the key Southeast Asian market of Vietnam were largely on the sidelines during the week to Friday June 11, due to falling domestic scrap and steel prices in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.

An accident at Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, in which a tower crane collapsed on Thursday June 3 will likely have minimal impact on discharge rates for containerized ferrous scrap in the coming days, market sources told Fastmarkets.