Over the past week, Taiwan’s import scrap market has moved up sharply in actual deal prices. Japanese sellers’ absence from the bulk scrap market has provided support for ex-US scrap prices, as have the dire winter conditions observed in the US. As the raw material costs of Taiwanese mills move upwards, the rebar market has also adjusted following short-lived resistance from buyers. The major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices stable this week at TWD 16,000/mt ($509/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices increasing by $2/mt taking the exchange rate into account. When Feng Hsin left the market for some time to adapt to higher scrap price levels, another major mill in Taiwan offered limited quantities of rebar at TWD 15,900/mt ($506/mt) ex-works. While local rebar prices finally moved up again, Feng Hsin made some limited sales at TWD 16,100/mt ($513/mt) ex-works, increasing its prices accordingly.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have increased over the past week from the range of $310-320/mt CFR to $312-320/mt CFR. Actual prices in ex-US deals have moved up sharply from $308/mt CFR to $312-314/mt CFR. The harsh winter conditions in the US are also impacting the availability of scrap on the US West Coast, market sources reported.
With the Japanese yen’s strong performance through the week, Japanese sellers have taken a step back from the market and their H1/2 (50:50) offers to Taiwan have disappeared. Last week, their offers were in the range of $321-327/mt CFR, without any deals signed.
Feng Hsin has raised its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt this week to TWD 9,200/mt ($293/mt) delivered, up by $8/mt on US dollar basis due to the sharp increase in import scrap prices.
$1 = TWD 31.43