South Korean stainless scrap import market dim
2014-03-06 09:25:04 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 6 Mar 14 - Currently most importers in South Korea are not active in importing products, and the market remains dim.
An importer in Seoul tells Asian Metal that the offer for 304 stainless scrap he received from Netherlandish exporters is USD1,500/t CNF Inchon, the same as that of last week.
Both purchasing materials within South Korea and from European countries, the source reveals that the domestic purchasing price for the above grade is around KRW1,610,000/t (USD1,503/t) and that for 430 grade is KRW500,000/t (USD467/t). In the meantime, he discloses that orders for finished stainless steel products is soft and shows no signal of releasing right now, thus he is not eager to purchase stainless scrap, not so confident of the coming market.
Another importer in Busan tells Asian Metal the price of 304 stainless scrap imported from the USA is USD1,450/t CIF Busan, up by USD20/t over that of last week.
According to the source, although the import price of stainless scrap kept rising slightly in past five weeks with a total markup of around USD30/t, most South Korean importers are not active in supplementing inventories and they do not think the price will witness a significant rise in the remainder of March or April. “The price is likely to go up slowly and slightly following that of nickel in LME futures market, but it is hard to rise sharply since demand from major Asian countries and regions like Taiwan, Japan and Thailand remains weak,” explains the source. His regular monthly purchasing volume is 1,500t, but he deems it will be around 1,000t in March.
An importer in Seoul tells Asian Metal that the offer for 304 stainless scrap he received from Netherlandish exporters is USD1,500/t CNF Inchon, the same as that of last week.
Both purchasing materials within South Korea and from European countries, the source reveals that the domestic purchasing price for the above grade is around KRW1,610,000/t (USD1,503/t) and that for 430 grade is KRW500,000/t (USD467/t). In the meantime, he discloses that orders for finished stainless steel products is soft and shows no signal of releasing right now, thus he is not eager to purchase stainless scrap, not so confident of the coming market.
Another importer in Busan tells Asian Metal the price of 304 stainless scrap imported from the USA is USD1,450/t CIF Busan, up by USD20/t over that of last week.
According to the source, although the import price of stainless scrap kept rising slightly in past five weeks with a total markup of around USD30/t, most South Korean importers are not active in supplementing inventories and they do not think the price will witness a significant rise in the remainder of March or April. “The price is likely to go up slowly and slightly following that of nickel in LME futures market, but it is hard to rise sharply since demand from major Asian countries and regions like Taiwan, Japan and Thailand remains weak,” explains the source. His regular monthly purchasing volume is 1,500t, but he deems it will be around 1,000t in March.
