Taiwanese ferrous scrap buyers were scrambling for both containerized and bulk cargoes from the United States and Japan due to materials being diverted to other countries in light of the low prices there.
The higher freight costs faced by shippers have also reduced the quantities being offered by sellers.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese buyers were not active in the market this week, looking to delay purchases until prices fall again.
Vietnam
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $260-265 per tonne cfr on Friday February 21, unchanged from
a week earlier.
There was an offer at $290 per tonne cfr Vietnam for a bulk deep-sea cargo from the US West Coast, although there was limited interest from buyers for such materials.
Barge-shipments of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from Southeast Asia were offered at $270-275 per tonne cfr Vietnam, with buyers looking to purchase at $265-268 per tonne cfr Vietnam.
Demand was muted this week, with many steel mills look to hold off on purchases due to expectations that...