Buyers accept higher scrap tags in Taiwan, delay bookings in Korea Far east / Scrap

South Korean mills are shunning steel scrap bookings at higher prices, having sufficient stocks, whereas the negotiations with Taiwanese buyers have brought sporadic bookings at higher levels in early December.

US scrap collectors have raised their offer prices for containerized scrap to Tai- wan thanks to generally higher demand in the region. The quotes are gaining ground each day. While at the start of the week limited volumes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) changed hands at about $255/t CFR Taiwan, contract prices moved   to

$258-260/t CFR by its end, Metal expert learnt. overall the quotes have added $7.5/t on average from last week’s bids. The mentioned grade is now available at about $263-265/t  CFR  Taiwan.  Japanese HMS 1&2 (50:50)  scrap is available     within $278-280/t CFR Taiwan. The latest deal was heard at around $275/t CFR, according to the market sources.

Japanese HMS 2 material is nominally priced for Korean buyers at JPY 26,000/t ($239.3/t) FOB these days versus 25,000-26,000/t ($230.1-239.3/t) FOB a week ago. Today’s price translates to about $262/t on CFR South Korea basis. The material is expected to get costlier going forward on the back of higher purchasing quotes at home and on alternative destinations. The leading EAF steelmaker Tokyo Steel announced the second increase this week, adding JPY 500/t ($4.6/t) to HMS 2 grade price at four of its works. The new purchase price for HMS 2 scrap is ranging JPY 21,500-24,500/t ($197.8-225.5/t) and is effective starting from December 7.

No deals were heard with the US or Russian exporters, but that did not prevent the quotes from rising, albeit nominally. HMS 1 scrap is priced this week at $280-285/t CFR South Korea versus $275-280/t CFR previously. Russian A3 scrap quotes for Korean buyers moved to $265-270/t CFR this week from $265/t CFR confirmed in a deal in late November.