Taiwan’s import scrap prices have moved down further with the influence of the declines seen in the international scrap market. “US and Turkish scrap prices are falling. Billets are also moving down. Sentiment is not good for the near future,” a source at a Taiwanese mill said. This week, local rebar prices in Taiwan have been on the low side. Leading domestic producer Feng Hsin has concluded limited sales, similar to other local producers. Feng Hsin has cut its domestic rebar price by TWD 300/mt over the past week to TWD 17,200/mt ($527/mt) ex-works, with the dollar-based price down by $13/mt taking the exchange rate into account.
Offers for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have moved down from the range of $308-317/mt CFR to $300-308/mt. Actual deal prices have also moved down, by $5-7/mt to $300/mt CFR.
Offers shared for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk are still nonexistent because of the significant price gap between Japanese price expectations and US containerized scrap offers. Also, market sources report that Japanese yen is very strong, while Taiwan also has restrictions on vessels at its ports.
Feng Hsin has reduced its scrap procurement prices by TWD 300/mt and TWD 200/mt in two consecutive cuts to TWD 9,400/mt ($288/mt) delivered, down by $18/mt on US dollar basis. The declining trend of the import scrap segment has impacted the local market.
$1 = TWD 32.61