The domestic stainless steel scrap market is once again on a downward trend. Last week, Nittetsu Stainless and Shinwa Steel secretly lowered the unit purchase price of 304 scrap by 5-10 yen/kg. Nittetsu Stainless and JSP are considering a further reduction of 10 yen and restrictions on delivery quotas.

 

There are several stories leading up to this point, but basically it boils down to the fact that demand for stainless steel scrap is lacklustre both at home and abroad.

 

LME nickel market（$/ton） and 304 scrap(in　japan　\/kg）

 

Trends in the 304 scrap market in China (RMB/ton) 

 

Although POSCO has resumed buying for South Korea, Pohang has an overstocked inventory. So domestic shippers for South Korea cannot buy much either. Nippon Yakin has already stopped loading, and JSP from Nippon Steel & Stainless, is also in the process of tightening quota restrictions as mentioned above. In addition, the buying by shippers for China is also waning as local Chinese dealers are buying less and the market price has slumped to below USD 1,600 (below RMB 11,000).

 

In other words, the selling space is narrowing.

 

With the market falling and the selling space shrinking, the stainless-steel scrap market is once again on the road that it has been on for some time.

 

 

（IRUNIVERSE YT , translated by MK）

 

 

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