South Korea’s Hyundai Steel has cut its Japanese scrap purchase prices, Kallanish understands.

In Hyundai Steel’s latest Japanese scrap procurement auction on 3 June, the South Korean steelmaker posted a bid for Japanese H2 grade scrap at JPY 46,000/tonne ($421/t) fob. Hyundai also bid for shredded grade at JPY 50,000/t, HS grade at JPY 51,000/t and Shindachi Bara grade at JPY 52,000/t in the same auction. The company says it secured around 30,000 tonnes of scrap in the tender, according to a Seoul-based trader.

The mill's bid prices are JPY 3,000/t lower than its bids in the previous auction held on 20 May. The South Korean steelmaker also ordered Russian A3 grade scrap at $488/t cfr last week. The quantity purchased was heard to be 25,000t.

In the Japanese domestic market, Tokyo Steel is paying JPY 48,000/t for H2 grade scrap trucked to its Utsunomiya steelworks, unchanged since 19 May.