Over the past week, Taiwanese import scrap market has been characterized by silence. First Japanese sellers, then US-based scrap suppliers took a step back and refrained from offering scrap to Taiwan, as the price ideas of buyers and sellers diverged. Market sources report that the margins for rebar sales in Taiwan are quite low and domestic mills are focusing on local scrap purchases. Meanwhile, major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices stable this week at TWD 15,800/mt ($505/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices moving up by $2/mt taking the exchange rate into account. Feng Hsin has sold some rebar at TWD 15,600/mt ($499/mt) ex-works this week, unchanged week on week in the local currency and up by $2/mt in US dollars. Mills in southern Taiwan have sold rebar at TWD 15,150-15,300/mt ($484-489/mt) ex-works, down by TWD 50/mt on the lower end and up by $2/mt on the upper end week on week. “Some small quantity has even been traded at TWD 15,300/mt ex-works.
Over the past week, the few offer prices shared for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers were at $300-305/mt CFR as compared to last week’s $296/mt CFR. “No deal has been done at this level yet and US offers have almost disappeared in Taiwan due to Taiwanese producers’ lower price expectations and the stable local scrap price trend,” a source reported.
Having shared offers for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk cargoes at $315-318/mt CFR last week, Japanese sellers took a step back from the Taiwanese market this week. “The Japanese yen is stronger lately, plus Taiwan’s scrap price is not moving and probably is the lowest in Asia,” a source said.
Feng Hsin has kept its scrap procurement prices stable this week at TWD 8,800/mt ($281/mt) delivered, up by $1/mt on US dollar basis.
$1 = TWD 31.29