South Korea
Containerized imported ferrous scrap prices in South Korea rose on the back of higher offer prices. Demand, however, is still under pressure with mills holding good levels of scrap inventories. Also, mills are focusing on domestic scrap due to rising global import prices. The weekly Davis Index for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20), Wednesday, settled at $303/mt cfr South Korea, up by $4/mt, with no deals heard at the index price. Offers were up at $305/mt cfr this week with expectation of them rising further, as per market participants.
After high Kanto and Kansai bids this month, mills limited Japanese scrap trades. Dongkuk Steel bought 10,000mt Russian A3 at $329/mt and avoided any deep sea or Japanese scrap this week.
With Chinese mills lowering billet imports, mills in Korea were sensitive to higher scrap prices. Though, offers for billet exports remained stable from the prior week at $490-495/mt cfr Southeast Asia and China. SE Asian billet export offers were at $500/mt cfr China, up $15/mt from the prior week in the absence of Indian exporters, who are focusing on their domestic market. An offer for Japanese EAF billet for January shipment was at $488-490/mt cfr Manila, while Black Sea billet for February shipment at $490-495/mt cfr. Induction furnace billet from Vietnam is tagged at $490-500/mt cfr Manila earlier part of the week.
South Korean domestic ferrous scrap prices trended flat this week with steel mills bidding low and making sure domestic yards are not able to raise prices. Most Korean mills are expected to lower domestic scrap prices by KRW10,000/mt ($9/mt) delivered Pohang this week.
The weekly Davis Indexes for P&S 5ft, #1 HMS, and shredded rose by $4/mt, $2/mt and $3/mt to $334/mt, $308/mt, and $319/mt cfr South Korea, respectively.
South American suppliers offered HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $295-300/mt cfr South Korea on Wednesday up by $5-10/mt from the prior week. Market participants indicated that shortage of containers and tight supply of ferrous scrap from other origins lifted offers.
Taiwan
Taiwanese mills continued to buy limited ferrous scrap cautiously. Deal prices rose to $310/mt cfr on Wednesday. The Davis Index for containerized US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) Wednesday rose by $3/mt to $308/mt cfr Taiwan from Tuesday.
Most bids for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) in TEUs are at $300/mt cfr with traders expecting limited buying at such high prices. Despite limited demand, suppliers are raising offers and pushing up scrap prices due to container and ferrous scrap shortage. Traders observed that mills’ bids are lower than imported scrap price and they are more likely to buy domestic scrap. Feng Hsin and other steel mills raised domestic scrap prices this week on rising global prices.
In bulk, no deals were heard this week due to rising offers and higher bids for Kanto tender.
($1= KRW1,106.5)