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Japan’s largest electric arc furnace operator and de-facto benchmark price-setter cut charges to its Tahara, Kyushu and Okayama production units as well as those to its Takamatsu service centre by ¥500 ($5) per tonne, effective February 15 deliveries.
However, it left delivery charges to its main Utsunomiya plant unchanged.
As a result, it is now paying ¥36,000 ($353) per tonne for both seaborne and overland deliveries to Utsunomiya and Kyushu; ¥35,500 ($349) per tonne for deliveries to Tahara and Okayama; and ¥34,500 ($339) per tonne for those to Takamatsu.
The reduction in its charges – the sixth so far this year – came after a drop at the latest export tender held on February 13 by the Kanto Tetsugen, which brings together Tokyo-area dealers, where prices dropped by ¥2,350 ($23) per tonne from the previous month’s auction to ¥32,995 ($324) per tonne fas for H2-grade scrap.