Taiwan’s import scrap market has remained relatively stable this week, though deals have been closed with a small decline. The domestic rebar market has seen some sales this week after a silence of almost two months. “Sales prices are below our costs [either by import billets or scrap melting],” a source commented. Major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices unchanged at TWD 16,100/mt ($532/mt) ex-works, with the dollar-based price up by $1/mt taking the exchange rate into account. SteelOrbis has learned that southern Taiwanese steelmakers are selling rebar in the range of TWD 15,500-15,600/mt ($512-515/mt) ex-works. Therefore, some sales were also done by Feng Hsin at TWD 15,800/mt ($522/mt) ex-works later in the week. Taiwan’s rebar market is expected to remain silent for a couple of weeks.
Over the past week, the offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers have softened further on average from $300-305/mt CFR to $295-307/mt CFR. Additionally, actual deal prices have moved down from $298-300/mt CFR to $295-300/mt CFR. SteelOrbis hears that offer prices are still limited for Taiwan.
Offered prices for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk cargoes have increased by $2-3/mt to $318-322/mt CFR. “No bulk deal was done this week as container prices are too low and Japanese bulk cargoes are offered at higher levels,” a Taiwanese source commented.
Feng Hsin has kept its scrap purchase prices stable this week at TWD 8,400/mt ($278/mt) delivered, up by $1/mt on US dollar basis. “We consider the import scrap market to be relatively stable, so local prices have also remained unchanged,” the source said.
$1 = TWD 30.24
