Over the past week, Taiwan’s import scrap market has moved upwards. Market sources report that the number of offers from the US is low, while Japanese scrap prices are considered to be unworkable for now. Steel demand in Taiwan has been sluggish and the market needs time to adapt to the price increases announced since January. Major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar price stable at TWD 16,300/mt ($519/mt) ex-works, with the dollar-based price increasing by $4/mt taking the exchange rate into account.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have increased over the past week from the range of $317-321/mt CFR to $323/mt CFR as compared to February 6, though sources report that there are few offers. Actual prices in ex-US deals have moved up from $316/mt CFR to $321/mt CFR.
This week Japanese H1/2 (50:50) offers have been in the range of $340-342/mt CFR Taiwan, as compared to $330-335/mt CFR reported on February 6. Market sources report that this rise is mainly due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar, but the current price levels are considered expensive as compared to the prices for ex-US containerized scrap. Consequently, Taiwanese producers have not placed bids for Japanese scrap.
Feng Hsin has raised its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt this week to TWD 9,400/mt ($300/mt) delivered, up by $9/mt on US dollar basis due to the sharp increase in import scrap quotations. The rise is the result of the gap between import and domestic scrap quotations, sources report.
$1 = TWD 31.38
