Taiwan’s import scrap prices have remained firm over the past week despite the lack of steel demand. Market sources report that the Taiwanese rebar market is “not healthy due to several problems and rebar prices are still at the bottom, with no buyers.” As a result, buyers show little interest in import scrap offers, especially from Japan. A source at a major Taiwanese producer said, “Rebar prices are so low that even buying cheap import billets would not cover rebar costs.” Meanwhile, major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has raised its domestic rebar prices by TWD 200/mt this week to TWD 15,800/mt ($503/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices up by $3/mt taking the exchange rate into account. It is reported that Feng Hsin has sold some rebar at TWD 15,600/mt ($496/mt) ex-works this week, though the mills in southern Taiwan have sold rebar at TWD 15,100-15,200/mt($481-484/mt) ex-works, limiting Feng Hsin’s price increase.
Over the past week, offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers have softened by $2/mt on the upper end to $296-305/mt CFR, indicating a relatively stable trend. Actual deal prices have remained unchanged for this grade at $295/mt CFR.
Offers for Japanese H1/2 (50:50) scrap bulk cargoes are in the range of $316-327/mt CFR, up by $1-5/mt on the upper end. Although the lowest level accepted by sellers is at $315/mt CFR, Taiwanese buyers are bidding at $310/mt CFR and lower for this grade. No deals have been done in Taiwan this week for Japanese scrap.
Feng Hsin has increased its scrap procurement prices by TWD 200/mt this week to TWD 8,800/mt ($280/mt) delivered, up by $4/mt on US dollar basis.
$1 = TWD 31.42
