Taiwan’s import scrap market has continued to soften this week, with offers from Japan in particular moving down. US-based suppliers are getting ready for the holidays and there have been hardly any ex-US offers shared with Taiwan this week. The negative impact of Russian billet persists, with Russian billet suppliers reported to have cut their offers to Taiwan by $5/mt to $445/mt CFR. “All mills are buying cheap billets, so EAFs are forced to lower their scrap purchase prices to compete,” a source at a major Taiwanese mill commented. This week, rebar sales in Taiwan were also sluggish, though there are reports saying that Taiwanese mills are giving a discount of approximately TWD 100/mt for deliveries. The major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has reduced its domestic rebar price by TWD 200/mt to TWD 17,400/mt ($533/mt) ex-works, with its dollar-based price down by $8/mt week on week taking into account exchange rate changes.
This week, offers for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers have disappeared in Taiwan. “Taiwan’s scrap procurement is on the low side, and the Christmas holidays start this week. Therefore, US-based suppliers have stopped offering,” a source reported. Late last week, ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers were offered at $295-300/mt CFR Taiwan, with some bookings concluded at $290-297/mt CFR.
Similar to last week, offers from Japan to Taiwan are few. The offers shared for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk have declined to $315-320/mt CFR from last week’s $320-323/mt CFR. According to a source at a major Taiwanese producer, “The Japanese yen has depreciated again this week and no Taiwanese producer has concluded any deals from Japan amid the high levels of ready stocks on hand.”
Feng Hsin has lowered its scrap procurement price by TWD 200/mt to TWD 9,200/mt ($282/mt) delivered, down by $7/mt amid the changes observed in the exchange rate.
$1 = TWD 32.67
