South Korea-origin scrap has begun to draw some attention from buyers in East Asia, mainly 

Vietnam and Taiwan. 

Along  with  the  recent  emergence of several bookings for China-origin scrap, South Korea

origin scrap is expected to be another addition to the market. 

Some  bookings  by  Seoul-based  scrap  exporter  GMR  Materials  have  been heard done 

recently. 

Around  May 24, Japan's leading mill Tokyo Steel concluded a booking for around 3,000 mt 

of Japanese H2-equivalent materials at $241/mt CFR Futajima, Japan, a source close to the 

company confirmed. 

Earlier this week, GMR sold around 5,000 mt of H2 to Taiwan at $221/mt FOB South Korea 

and also around 5,000 mt of H1/2 50:50 to Thailand at $230/mt FOB South Korea, the sour

ce added. 

S&P Global Platts had a chance to sit down with Danny Kim, CEO of GMR Materials, at the 

2017 World Recycling Convention and Exhibition in Hong Kong on Tuesday. 

"South  Korean scrap is starting to get more credibility from buyers in terms of quality, and 

the number of inquiries is increasing," said Kim. 

Currently, GMR Materials is exporting around 30,000 mt/month, equivalent to around 360,

000 mt/year, of South Korea-origin scrap to mainly East Asian countries. 

Of  the  total, around  20,000  mt/month  is  for  export to Vietnam and the rest to Taiwan, 

Thailand, and Bangladesh, the CEO said. 

It has been widely heard among trading sources in South Korea that domestic scrap supp

liers find it difficult to export scrap because of their complicated business relationships with 

local steel mills.