TAIWAN STEEL SCRAP: Price increases slow but upside still expected – sources

Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $270 per tonne on Friday August 28, narrowing upward by $2 per tonne from a day earlier but up by $5-8 per tonne from $262-265 per tonne cfr Taiwan on August 21.

Offers for containerized cargoes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) from the US West Coast were at $270-275 per tonne cfr Taiwan. Some sellers continued to withhold materials, expecting more upside to come in the near term.

Central and South American containerized materials were offered at $260 per tonne cfr Taiwan.

More than 10,000 tonnes of containerized scrap was sold at $268-270 per tonne cfr Taiwan, with the latest transaction at $270 per tonne cfr Taiwan.

The upward spot price trend in key import market Turkey has continued to surprise market participants, including those in Taiwan. They shared that prices were at $288 per tonne cfr Turkey for US-origin scrap.

“Given the weak demand in the rest of the world outside of China, it is very hard to explain why scrap prices keep going up in Turkey,” a buyer in Taiwan told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 27.

This is detrimental to domestic steelmakers because downstream steel buyers were not active.

“There will have to be a lot of rebar transactions in the domestic markets by construction companies to support the high scrap prices,” a trader in Taiwan told Fastmarkets on Friday August 28.

Offers for bulk Japanese H1&H2 (50:50) cargoes were at $285 per tonne cfr Taiwan in the earlier part of the week, before increasing to $285-295 per tonne cfr Taiwan. There was a transaction at $285 per tonne cfr Taiwan for a 6,000 tonne cargo.