Taiwan
Taiwanese mills have limited import purchases amid a continued rise in offer prices. Mills are opting for domestic scrap to avoid paying a high price for restocking inventories as well as delays in shipment.
The Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20), Monday, rose by $8/mt from Friday to $406/mt cfr Taiwan. Few deals were heard at $405/mt with offers rising to $410-420/mt cfr. Many mills held their bid at $390/mt resisting high offers.
Taiwanese mill Feng Hsin on Monday raised rebar and ferrous scrap prices by TWD1000/mt($35.5/mt) and TWD1200/mt, respectively. The steelmaker’s base price for HMS 1&2 (80:20) is TWD10,100/mt del Taiwan northern mills.
Ferrous scrap prices are rising beyond viable levels for mills. As per traders, mills are cautiously analysing Turkish buying. Traders anticipate a further rise in January shipments prices amid global short supply and strong domestic demand for ferrous scrap.
Japan
Tokyo Steel hikes ferrous scrap price for the ninth time in December. Effective Dec 22, Tokyo steel lifts ferrous scrap purchase prices by JPY2,000/mt ($19.3/mt) at all five plants. Revised bids for #2 HMS are JPY42,000/mt ($405/mt) del Tahara, JPY41,500/mt del Okayama, JPY39,000/mt del plant Kyushu, JPY39,000/mt del Takamatsu, and JPY39,000/mt del plant Utsunomiya.
The steelmaker also raised product prices to pass on the increase in raw material costs to end-users in the domestic and overseas markets. Finished steel prices were hiked by JPY10,000/mt ($96.6/mt) for January sales.
($1=JPY103.5; TWD28)