During the past week, slower demand for steel in Taiwan has caused a temporary softening in the deep sea scrap segment. Despite the sharp increases observed in the international scrap market, US suppliers accepted lower quotations at the beginning of this week, before quickly changing their minds and increasing prices again. Even with the higher offer levels to Taiwan, market players report that the number of offers is low. Japanese scrap has softened a little week on week, but whether this will be a persistent trend remains to be seen. SteelOrbis believes that Turkey’s strong import scrap prices will eventually have a positive impact on the Asian scrap market.
Some Taiwanese buyers concluded deals for ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers at $405/mt CFR earlier this week, which was then created a question amongst other players. It was known that last week this grade was bought at $410/mt CFR Taiwan. However, ex-US offers increased back to $410s/mt CFR on Wednesday, February 22. Two days later, on Friday, deals for ex-US HMS I/II 80:20 scrap in containers are still at $410/mt CFR, but market players report “it is heading to $415/mt CFR, number of offers are on the low side.”
Offers for Japanese H1/2 50:50 scrap by bulk to Taiwan are currently at $430-435/mt CFR, slightly lower as compared to $430-440/mt CFR last week. The softening in alternative market such as Vietnam and South Korea has helped Taiwan to push for a slightly lower price.
The softening in the local rebar and scrap markets in Taiwan has attracted the attention of market players. After three consecutive reductions announced in one week, domestic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices in Taiwan have moved down a total of TWD 800/mt to TWD 11,600/mt ($380/mt) ex-works. The official domestic rebar prices in Taiwan are at TWD 20,000/mt ($655/mt) ex-works.
$1 = TWD 30.54