Osaka’s Ferrous Scrap Export Price Hits Record

Ferrous scrap export price from Osaka bay hit record FAS 52,750 yen per tonne for H2 at joint export tender held by Osaka based scrap dealers’ group on Thursday. The price is 4,200 yen or 9% higher than successful bid at another tender by Kansai Tetsugen on February 26 and 500 yen or 1% higher than Kanto Tetsugen’s tender on March 11. Tokyo based exporter, Mineichi Industries won the tender to ship 5,000 tonnes of scrap from April 5 to May 10. Two of 11 bids for the tender were more than 52,000 yen per tonne. Local electric furnace steel makers around Osaka pay 50,000-51,000 yen per tonne for H2 grade and some makers pay as high as 51,500 yen. The price has kept increasing since second week of February. The makers try to secure the materials more to increase the raw steel output and they could increase the purchase price more. Local traders around Osaka see local market price could increase to more than the export price in April. Osaka’s dealers will ship scrap next week for existing export order by February 26 reducing the supply for local electric furnaces.