Japanese stainless scrap participants pessimistic about the coming market
2013-05-23 15:05:07 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 17 Apr 13 - Currently the delivered price of 304 solid scrap is JPY135,000-140,000/mt (USD1,377-1,428/mt) in Japan, down by around JPY5,000/mt compared with that of beginning of March. Besides, both traders and purchasers are not so confident of the coming market and they are worried about a price decline seeing sharp price decrease of nickel.
A purchaser in Tokyo tells Asian Metal that the delivered price of 304 solid scrap is JPY135,000/mt (USD1,377/mt), the same as that of the previous trading day.
The source has no confidence in the coming market and he deems the market performance is unlikely to recover obviously in April and May seeing gloomy atmosphere in other major markets like China, South Korea and India. “The market is likely to make some progress after June,” he adds. As an end user of stainless scrap, the source mainly imports materials from Taiwan of China and South China, with a monthly procurement volume of 2,000t.
A trader in Ichihara reports to Asian Metal that his quotation for 304 solid scrap is stable at JPY135,000/mt (USD1,377/mt).
Not being confident of the coming market, the source has cut his stock from a regular level of 500t to less than 100t recently. In the meantime, he reveals that most traders hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the forthcoming market and the sales volume is unsatisfying. Besides, he supposes the price of stainless scrap is likely to go down further in following two or three weeks in view of price drop of nickel in LME futures market. Therein, the price witnessed another decline of USD155/t this Monday after a markdown of USD420/t last Friday. In addition, the source discloses that it is hard to export materials to China as its custom strengthens environmental inspection.
