Prices for containerized ferrous scrap in the key Taiwanese market surged this week amid strong demand for cargoes and limited offers from sellers waiting for more price increases.

After a rapid rise of domestic steel prices across Europe in the second half of 2020, market sources have been voicing concerns that the situation will echo the scenario in 2008 of a price spike quickly followed by a sharp fall.

Turkish steel producers continued to book deep-sea scrap for July shipments at higher prices on Monday May 24 even as market sentiment turned negative, sources told Fastmarkets.

Buyers of bulk cargoes of scrap imports in the key Southeast Asian market of Vietnam were largely on the sidelines during the week to Friday June 11, due to falling domestic scrap and steel prices in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.

An accident at Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, in which a tower crane collapsed on Thursday June 3 will likely have minimal impact on discharge rates for containerized ferrous scrap in the coming days, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Global steel scrap prices surged in the week to Friday May 7 and could well break through the $500 per tonne cfr mark, starting in Asia, market sources have told Fastmarkets.

Surging steel demand in the majority of global markets pushed prices up in most regions in the week to Friday May 14. Only the United States deep-sea ferrous scrap market remained inactive, while Chinese scrap prices fell victim to softer prices for finished steel products.

Prices in the Taiwanese containerized ferrous scrap import market rebounded this week amid improving sentiment and competition for material in the bulk market, sources told Fastmarkets.

Indian secondary steel billet prices have risen by 900 rupees ($12) per tonne in the current week on higher costs for basic raw materials such as direct-reduced iron (DRI), coupled with increased buying of semi-finished steel by makers of long products.

Turkish scrap import prices have gone down, as expected, with news of a UK cargo being sold at the end of last week coming to light on Thursday March 25.