Taiwan’s import scrap market has remained relatively stable, though Taiwanese producers still report that they are not receiving scrap offers from Japan. Major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices unchanged this week at TWD 18,300/mt ($579/mt) ex-works, with its dollar-based prices decreasing by $5/mt taking the exchange rate into account. “Over the past week, rebar buyers were forced to enter the market and buy some rebars as Chinese billet export prices rose by more than $10/mt,” a source stated. Chinese billet prices have remained unchanged at $505/mt CFR Taiwan, sources report, adding that Russian suppliers have not returned to the market yet. According to market players, Chinese billet offers are very high and no deals at this level have been heard.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have remained relatively stable over the past week, moving from the range of $362-373/mt CFR to $362-374/mt CFR. Actual prices in ex-US deals have moved up by $1-2/mt week on week to $361-362/mt CFR. As SteelOrbis reported earlier this week, the containerized ferrous scrap price to the US West Coast (USWC) docks has increased by close to $10/mt for HMS I/II 80:20 based on deals confirmed last week at $350-355/mt FAS Long Beach port.
For the fourth week now, Japanese suppliers are out of the market. A Taiwanese source reports that, after the Kanto tender closed with a small price increase on May 12 and was followed by a price rise of JPY 1,000/mt announced by Tokyo Steel, Japanese suppliers have remained cautious as regards exports.
Feng Hsin has kept its scrap procurement prices stable the past week at TWD 10,700/mt ($339/mt) delivered, down by $2/mt on US dollar basis.
$1 = TWD 31.56
