The Taiwanese market for containerised scrap has faltered further, Kallanish notes.

A large mill has ordered containerised HMS 1/2 80:20 from US at $300/tonne cfr, Taiwanese trading sources report on Friday. The market was trading at $308/t cfr last Wednesday. Sluggish rebar demand in Taiwan has been blamed for falling scrap prices.

Kallanish had assessed its weekly HMS 1&2 80:20 container scrap at $308/t cfr last Wednesday, down $2 week-on-week.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Hyundai Steel secured a large tonnage of Russian and Japanese scrap, for May shipment, over the past week. The mill recently booked around 55,000 tonnes of Russian A3 grade scrap at $341/t cfr Pohang and $345/t cfr Inchon.

In its auction last Wednesday, Hyundai Steel finalised orders for a total of 93,000t at JPY 34,000/t ($307/t) fob Japan, H2 basis, which is equivalent to JPY 36,500/t cfr South Korea (see Kallanish 27 March).

Japanese scrap prices have already dropped, a Seoul-based trader notes. Another South Korean mill had ordered Japanese H2 grade scrap at JPY 35,000/t fob the week before, he adds.