VIETNAM STEEL SCRAP: Buyers seek bulk cargoes from Australia, US amid high Japanese offers

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.

Bulk cargoes of August-shipment US heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) were offered to Vietnam at $520 per tonne cfr this week, down by $10 per tonne from last week.

Shredded scrap from the US was offered to Vietnam at $525-530 per tonne cfr, while bonus scrap from the country was offered at $530-535 per tonne cfr.

Australia-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) was offered to Vietnam at $510 per tonne cfr this week.

These offers are in line with spot market prices, sources said, considering bulk cargoes from the US West Coast were offered to Taiwan at $515 per tonne cfr.

A southern Vietnamese steel mill was in the spot market for a bulk cargo of HMS 1&2 (80:20) and floated a tender to buy 15,000 tonnes of the material on Wednesday. Sources said it was bidding at $500-510 per tonne cfr Vietnam.

Market participants could not confirm the final purchase price that the mill had paid at the time of writing.

Market sources indicated spot prices at around $510 per tonne cfr Vietnam, based on offers for Japanese H2 scrap of $500 per tonne cfr Vietnam at the start of the week.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $510 per tonne on Friday June 25, down by $10 per tonne from a week earlier.

A bulk cargo of Japanese H2 scrap was said to have been sold to Vietnam at $495 per tonne cfr either on Monday or late last Friday.

Market participants indicated spot prices of $490-495 per tonne cfr for bulk cargoes of Japanese H2 scrap this week. Bids were made at $485 per tonne cfr Vietnam, but sources said these were unlikely to result in any transactions.

“But this week has been extremely quiet for Japanese scrap. It seems like there was little interest for such material,” a Vietnamese trader told Fastmarkets on Friday June 25.

Hong Kong-origin H1&H2 scrap (50:50) was offered at $485 per tonne this week, sources said.

Domestic scrap prices in Vietnam also experienced some adjustments on Wednesday.

Type 1 domestic scrap (which is largely similar to Japanese H1 scrap) has being sold at 9,800 Vietnamese Dong per kg – about $424 per tonne – since the middle of this week; Type 2 domestic scrap (similar to Japanese H2 scrap), at 9,700 Dong per kg; and Type 3 domestic scrap, at 9,200 Dong per kg. Special scrap (similar to Japanese HS or plate & structural) is being sold at 10,000 Dong per kg.

“With domestic scrap prices at about $440 per tonne, the gap with imported scrap is quite big, so there is no need for me to purchase imports,” a buyer source in southern Vietnam told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel scrap H2, Japan-origin import, cfr Vietnam was $490-495 per tonne on Friday, down by $5-10 per tonne from a week earlier.

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