Taiwan’s import scrap prices have continued to move down this week but only from the upper end. Japanese suppliers are still out of the market. Market sources report that Taiwanese dollar has gained strength against the US dollar. “Market was shocked by the exchange rate and did not expect this. Some deals were done late April [in the local rebar market], so market was silent this week,” a source reported. The major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has dropped its domestic rebar prices by TWD 400/mt over the past week at TWD 16,800/mt ($557/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices down by $7/mt, taking the exchange rate into account.
Offers for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have declined on the upper end by $2/mt to $285-293/mt. Actual deal prices have also moved down by the same margin to $285-288/mt CFR.
Amid the consecutive holidays in Japan starting with the Labor Day, Japanese traders are still out of the market and there are no offers shared for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk, market sources report.
Feng Hsin has cut its scrap procurement prices by TWD 300/mt to TWD 8,800/mt ($291/mt) delivered, down by $7/mt on US dollar basis. Market sources report that this cut was made due to the appreciation of the Taiwanese dollar (TWD) against the US dollar, TWD gained 6 percent of value in a week. This change in the rate lowered the gap between local and import scrap prices and left producers with little choice but to cut their local scrap procurement quotations.
$1= TWD 30.18