Posted on 02 Jun 2023
Taiwanese electric arc furnace mills have lowered domestic scrap procurement prices in recent days in order to remain competitive, Kallanish notes. The mills are facing competition from low-priced billet imports. At the same time, they are planning production cutbacks amid higher power rates during the summer season.
Feng Hsin Iron & Steel dropped its domestic scrap buying prices by TWD 300/tonne ($9.8/t) on Thursday. This is the second price drop this week, marking a total fall of TWD 600/t. Four other Taiwanese mills also lowered domestic scrap purchase prices by TWD 200-300/t effective 1 June. This includes Shyeh Sheng Fuat Steel whose price drop of TWD 200/t on Wednesday afternoon was the second this week, accumulating to TWD 700/t for the week.
“EAFs are pushing local scrap down due to low-priced billet competition from Russia, Indonesia and China,” a Taipei scrap trader says. The mills are trying to lower production costs in order to compete with the imports, a Kaohsiung trader says. Another issue the mills face is higher electricity cost during the summer season. During the summer, mills typically cut production by 30-40% to lower production costs. Imported 3sp grade 150mm billet imports were last transacted at $490-495/t cfr Taiwan on Friday last week, he reports.
Meanwhile, leading Taiwanese integrated mill China Steel Corp (CSC) will be expanding an existing bar-in-coil rolling mill at its Kaohsiung works in southern Taiwan. The expansion project will see a new bar outlet installed so that straight bar will be added to the mill’s product range, says the equipment supplier, Pomini Long Rolling Mills.
The mill currently rolls 145mm square billet of up to 14,200mm length. The new bar outlet will handle round bar of 18-55m diameter. Commissioning of the project is scheduled for second-half 2025.
CSC produces about 10 million tonnes/year of crude steel and produces plate, bar, wire rod, hot and cold rolled coil, as well as hot-dip galvanized, electro-galvanized and electrical steel coil. About 65.2% of CSC’s products are consumed domestically and the rest are exported mostly to China (Hong Kong included), Japan, and Southeast Asia.
Source:Kallanish
