Ferrous Scrap Market Price Downs to Below 35,000 Yen/t around Nagoya

Ferrous scrap market price fell to below 35,000 yen per tonne for the first time in 7 months around Nagoya at local electric furnace carbon steel makers’ purchasing prices. The demand maintains low for building materials and electric furnaces continue output reductions. Local scrap supply is easy also due to material inflow from Tohoku area and increasing scrap generation from scrapped buildings in local area. Scrap export is slow under high yen rate.

Electric furnaces around Nagoya currently pay about 38,000 yen per tonne for new cutting scrap and 34,500-35,000 yen per tonne for H2 grade. Tahara works of Tokyo Steel Manufacturing decreased the scrap purchase price by total 2,500 yen per tonne within August. The present purchasing price is 35,000 yen per tonne for H2.

There is a gap for heavy scrap purchasing price between local electric furnace carbon steel makers and special steel makers. Special steel makers tend to approve expensive materials mainly for new cutting scrap when they need to keep high output for domestic and overseas automobile industry. The purchasing price stays at above 35,000 yen for H2. On the other hand, carbon steel makers are reducing scrap procurement at around 33,500 yen for H2. They can’t raise the selling price of building materials due to low orders.

As for the export price, the successful bid was FAS 33,000 yen per tonne at the latest export price tender held by Osaka based scrap dealers’ association on August 29. One scrap dealer said the price was not low but weak due to high yen rate. Some concerns consider overseas market price might rise when Turkey steel makers are expected to increase U.S. ferrous scrap procurement in September after Ramadan. Meanwhile, another dealer source said the market price would not upturn along instable European economy.