Taiwan's ferrous scrap imports fall in October

Taiwan's ferrous scrap imports fell for a second consecutive month in October as higher seaborne prices continued to limit steel mills' appetite.

Taiwan imported 251,000t of ferrous scrap in October, down by 1.4pc on the previous month but up by 8pc on a year earlier. Imports totalled 3.2mn t for January-October, higher by 13pc from the previous year.

The Argus daily containerised HMS 1/2 80:20 cfr Taiwan assessment rose by $35/t to $284/t on 11 September from $249/t on 3 August. This rise in prices lowered Taiwanese mills' interest in US scrap, while offered volumes from the US also began to fall.

The fall in imported scrap in October came despite a significant increase in Taiwan's domestic rebar demand. Manufacturers moved operations back to Taiwan from China because of tensions between the two sides, which raised the need for infrastructure and created substantial demand for long steel products. Mills lifted production to meet demand and sought more scrap, but Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions imposed by the Taiwanese government limited the availability of foreign workers and slowed down construction projects. Rebar consumers and stockists consequently delayed rebar collection that led to some mills having some issues with their warehousing.

Imports from the US fell by 13pc from a month earlier and by 9.9pc against a year previously to 102,000t. Slower scrap flows in the US have restricted scrap availability for exports. Suppliers were cautious when offering as they anticipated no increase in collection rates because of the pandemic and the approaching winter.

Imports of US scrap will likely remain low in the coming months because of container shortages. US suppliers were unable to secure shipments and therefore have made limited offers in the past few weeks. Taiwanese mills will have to source material from other origins to make up for the lower US tonnages. The shortage in containers will unlikely be resolved until midway through next year's first quarter.

Japanese scrap imports rose by 79pc from a year earlier and 0.1pc against the previous month to 56,000t. Mills had firm demand for Japanese scrap in mid-end September because of higher US prices. But Japanese scrap imports will likely fall significantly in the coming months as prices have moved up since October and became uncompetitive against US scrap.

Imports of Australian scrap halved against the previous month but doubled against a year earlier to 8,400t in October.

Scrap imports from Canada, the Dominican Republic and other origins increased to 19,000t, 12,000t and 66,000t respectively.

Taiwanese imports of steel billets doubled against a month earlier to 393,000t, supported by firm domestic rebar demand.

Taiwan ferrous scrap imports (t) Oct % &#177; vs Sep % &#177; vs Oct &#39;19 Jan-Oct % &#177; on year US 101,911 -13.3 -9.9 1,349,365 -3.4 Japan 56,181 0.1 79.0 1,004,607 114.7 Australia 8,429 -50.1 -31.8 159,793 51.6 Canada 19,286 35.2 7.2 141,141 13.7 Dominican Republic 11,511 74.4 41.3 74,330 -25.1 Others 65,564 31.1 13.2 529,113 -26.8 Total 251,371 -1.4 8.0 3,184,019 13.0 Source: Taiwan customs

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