Japan Stainless Scrap Price Drops

Japanese stainless scrap market price continued to drop for SUS304. Japanese stainless steel makers such as Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel reduced the purchase price of stainless scrap by 10,000 yen per tonne on 1 December following with last month.

Stainless scrap yield keeps low. Large dealer source said Japanese makers’ production rate hit bottom in February and rebounds up to 80-90% for October-December.

Because Japanese stainless scrap export decreased largely to mainly China since August, the scrap shipped to domestic makers. The supply and demand doesn’t become tight when the scrap import was higher than the scrap export in October for 3 consecutive months.

Nickel price on London Metal Exchange increased to US$ 19,000 per tonne in October, while decreased to US$ 16,030 on 30 November. Large dealer source said stainless steel products and scrap prices is decreasing when yen rate is rising.