After showing the first steps of a rebound last week, Taiwan’s import scrap prices have moved up further this week, as anticipated by SteelOrbis. The number of offers has also increased this week, though Japanese scrap prices are still found to be unattractive. Since domestic producers concluded rebar sales last week, this week has been relatively silent in terms of their sales. The major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has raised its domestic rebar prices by TWD 200/mt over the past week to TWD 16,800/mt ($560/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices up by $10/mt taking the exchange rate into account.
Both the number of offers and offer prices shared for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have increased this week. Market sources report that there are more cargoes available in the market, while prices have increased by another $5-7/mt this week to $299-305/mt. Actual deal prices have also moved up, by $5-6/mt to $295-298/mt CFR.
After a long silence, Japanese traders are finally back in the Taiwanese market. Japanese H1/2 (50:50) bulk scrap cargoes have been offered in the range of $326-328/mt CFR to Taiwan, rising significantly from last week’s only offer at $318/mt CFR. “Japanese offers are still more expensive than ex-US containers. There is still no Japanese bulk deal in Taiwan,” a source said. Taiwan has not bought an ex-Japan cargo since early April.
Along with the increasing import scrap offers, Feng Hsin has increased its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt to TWD 9,000/mt ($300/mt) delivered, up by $8/mt on US dollar basis.