Taiwan's ferrous scrap market has fallen this week, and local mills were not active in purchasing scrap due to the coming period of electricity curtailment.

Affected by falling prices in the Chinese scrap market, imported scrap prices in Taiwan have also begun to decline this week. Containerised HMS 1&2 80:20 from the US West Coast is offered at $465-470/tonne cfr Taiwan, about $10-15/t lower than last week. Japanese scrap prices also fell significantly because of China's reduction in orders, to about $490-500/t cfr Taiwan. 

Local steel mills believe that, although they have fallen, prices have not reached the level needed to trigger purchasing, so buyers are waiting and seeing rather than placing orders.

Kallanish cut its weekly HMS 1&2 80:20 container scrap assessment on Wednesday to $465/t cfr Taiwan, down by $10/t from the week before.

With the decline in import scrap prices, Taiwanese domestic steel mills have slowed down local scrap purchases. The impact of limited electricity supply to steel production has also led to weaker demand for scrap, and this is expected to continue for several weeks. In addition, steel mills' stocks are filling up, reducing their enthusiasm for purchasing.

Major Taiwanese electric arc furnace mill Feng Hsin Iron & Steel has this week lifted its rebar sales prices by TWD 300/t ($10.79/t) but kept scrap purchasing prices stable. Its purchase price for HMS 1 is now at TWD 12,500/t and the list price for #5 (5/8 inches or 15.875mm nominal diameter base) rebar is at TWD 22,400/t ex-works.