Despite last week’s hopes of a bottom in prices, Taiwan’s import scrap market has continued to move down over the past week. Market sources report that rebar sales in the country have been quiet for almost two months, “This week was not different,” a source said. As the import scrap market was declining amid a lack of interest and in line with the global trend, there were also import billet deals closed at around $450/mt CFR last week, according to sources. The weaker billet price has significantly impacted confidence in the steel market. Major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has reduced its domestic rebar prices by TWD 200/mt to TWD 17,600/mt ($544/mt) ex-works, with its dollar-based price decreasing by $4/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 continued to drop this week, declining by $7-8/mt to $295-305/mt CFR. Some Taiwanese producers have concluded bookings for this grade at $295-297/mt CFR this week, $5-6/mt lower week on week.
During the past week, the offer range for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap in bulk has moved down from last week’s $316-323/mt CFR range to $310-325/mt CFR. No Taiwanese mill has concluded any ex-Japan scrap booking this week either, amid the high steel and scrap inventories in Taiwanese buyers’ yards.
Feng Hsin has cut its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt to TWD 9,400/mt ($290/mt) delivered, down by $5/mt on US dollar basis amid the changes observed in the exchange rate. Sources report that falling scrap prices as well as low import billet prices are the reasons behind this reduction.
$1 = TWD 32.37