In JapaenseKanto region, the purchase prices of scrap by electric arc furnace steelmakers continued to drop by 500 yen per ton. On November 9th, the auction for scrap for exporting held by the Kanto Tetsugen Cooperative Association ended in a ‘failed auction’ for the first time in 6 months. In response, from November 10th Tokyo Steel’s Utsunomiya Plant lowered their purchase prices for all scrap types by 500 yen per ton. Other manufacturers followed suit and lowered their purchase prices by 500-1,000 yen as well. As of November 10th, the actual purchase prices of (H2) scrap by manufacturers are around 48,500-50,000 yen. The failed auction made it clear that overseas market prices have been seeing a downward trend, and in the domestic market many are predicting that prices will be lower in the future. In the market there is a strong sense of a shortage in terms of supply, and manufacturers do not seem to be enthusiastic about making purchases. Therefore many in the market are predicting that in terms of prices, a gradual downward trend will continue.

  As of November 10th, the dockside prices of (H2) scrap are around 48,000-49,000 yen. Recently prices dropped by 500-1,000 yen, and are now slightly lower than the purchase prices of manufacturers.

  As for the Kanto Tetsugen Cooperative Association’s auction ending in failure, it is said that this was due to bid prices not reaching the levels desired by the Association, and also due to the Association’s member companies facing shortages in terms of stock. Vietnam and South Korea are major destinations of the scrap auctioned, and purchases by customers in those countries have been stagnating. In response to this situation, it seems that the bid prices proposed during the auction were significantly lower than dockside prices.

  Due to the unfavorable export environment, many in the market are predicting that prices will drop in the future. But according to a manufacturing company representative in charge of purchasing, “Although we decided to lower our purchase prices, the amount of purchases we make have largely remained the same even after we made this decision.”

  By November 11th the Kanto Tetsugen Cooperative Association have conducted shipments totaling 15,000 tons, and during this month the Association is scheduling to conduct 2 other shipments of 5,000 tons each. It is said that scrapyards in the market continue to only have low amounts of stock, and so the supply and demand in the region is unlikely to loosen.