Taiwan’s import scrap market has been following the downward price trend in the international scrap market, while demand for scrap in the country has been on the low side. Market sources report that mills are in no rush to import scrap due to the underperforming rebar segment. While scrap offer prices from the US and Japan have declined, the drop seen in Japanese prices was stronger due to expectations of a downward movement in the upcoming Kanto scrap export tender.
Major Taiwanese steel producer Feng Hsin increased its domestic rebar prices by TWD 200/mt this week and TWD 200/mt last week to TWD 18,100/mt ($569/mt) ex-works, with its dollar-based price decreasing by $19/mt taking the exchange rate into account. “The market is still silent due to poor demand, the approaching rain season and massive funds going into the hot stock market,” a source added. The Chinese 5SP grade billet price has moved sideways week on week at $498/mt CFR Taiwan, sources report, adding that Russian suppliers have sold 20,000 mt of billets to southern Taiwanese mills at $496/mt CFR.
Offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan are in the range of $358-361/mt CFR, down from the $363-365/mt CFR levels recorded two weeks ago. Actual prices in ex-US deals have moved down by $ 7/mt in the past fortnight to $355/mt CFR. However, Taiwanese buyers are now resisting doing deals at $355/mt CFR and are exerting pressure to reduce prices below this level. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, containerized prices to docks on the US West Coast (USWC) continue to slide down amid subdued East Asian demand for scrap and limited sales to the region. This week, prices decreased by another $5/mt as containerized HMS I/II 80:20 dropped to $340/mt FAS Long Beach port, while contacts state that a decline to $335/mt FAS is expected very soon. At the same time, scrap traders on the US West Coast continue to complain that the rising cost of containerized ocean freight makes it very expensive to conduct business.
Despite the lack of Japanese bulk H1/2 (50:50) scrap offers to Taiwan, sources report that there are offers for higher grades. Japanese bulk offers were considered to be on the high side over the past two weeks as compared to containerised alternatives. Ex-Japan shredded scrap offers were at $407/mt CFR on Monday this week, but then declined sharply to $392/mt CFR on Thursday. Shindachi scrap offers from Japan to Taiwan have also decreased significantly, from $417/mt CFR recorded on Monday this week to $398/mt CFR. According to a Taiwanese source, market players are waiting to see the result of the Kanto tender due to be held on June 10, while they expect the tender price to drop this time amid very poor demand from Asian countries.
Feng Hsin has raised its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt over the past week to TWD 10,700/mt ($341/mt) delivered, down by $5/mt on US dollar basis. SteelOrbis learned that most Taiwanese mills have stopped or restricted scrap intakes due to the downtrend seen on the import scrap segment.
$1= TWD 31.49
