Taiwan's import scrap market has stabilized over the past week as Japanese scrap suppliers have gone absent again. The fluctuation of the Japanese yen-US dollar exchange rate has caused Japanese suppliers to maintain a cautious stance on scrap exports this week. Taiwan is receiving relatively stable offers from the US week on week, but Taiwanese steel producers' appetite for scrap is on the low side, while US-based suppliers are not showing much enthusiasm for current price levels.
Major Taiwanese steel producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices at TWD 17,200/mt ($533/mt) ex-works, with its dollar-based prices moving up by $1/mt taking the exchange rate into account. “The bullish stock market, the bearish real estate market, problems of soil dumping, and constant typhoons hitting the country are existing problems. So, the rebar market is not expected to recover and may need several weeks,” a source commented. Chinese 5SP grade billet prices have dropped by $5/mt week on week to $475/mt CFR. According to market sources, Taiwanese mills are not interested in buying billet as their current rebar prices are unprofitable, while the exchange rate of the Taiwanese currency does not support purchases of imports either.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have been relatively stable, only changing from the $329-332/mt CFR recorded last week to $330-332/mt CFR. Actual prices in ex-US deals are still at $325/mt CFR. “Some sellers are resisting such levels and the tonnages in the deals this week were limited,” a Taiwanese source stated.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, scrap prices on the US West Coast remained solid this week. Bulk prices to the docks were flat for the sixth consecutive week, and there have been no reports of the price decreases that were announced three weeks ago by exporters having been implemented. Initially, the scrap-to-docks price reduction was delayed as exporters waited for more clarity on higher energy and fuel costs amid escalating volatility in the US-Iran conflict.
Japanese offers to Taiwan have disappeared this week. Offers for Japanese bulk H1/2 (50:50) scrap shared with Taiwan were at $350-358/mt CFR last week. “The 3.3 percent appreciation of the Japanese yen scares the Japanese scrap suppliers and so they are refraining from offering to the export markets. The Kanto tender is also expected to close with a price decline again,” a Taiwanese source added. Japanese suppliers are expected to return to the market next week after the Kanto scrap export tender and a possible depreciation of the Japanese yen next week.
Feng Hsin has kept its scrap procurement prices stable over the past week at TWD 9,800/mt ($304/mt) delivered, up by $1/mt on US dollar basis. Domestic scrap prices in Taiwan remain unchanged as containerized scrap prices have moved more or less sideways over the last two to three weeks.
$1 = TWD 32.27
