Taiwan’s import scrap prices have moved sideways for the second month in a row, with the general range set in a narrow range for months now, despite slight fluctuations. Market sources report that the sluggishness of the domestic rebar and construction segments is the main reason of this steady scrap price trend. “The Taiwanese rebar market seems to be stuck in a dead swamp, with no solution from the government yet,” a source at one Taiwanese mill said. A lawsuit which was filed in September is still ongoing in Taiwan regarding the filling of previously excavated areas on state-owned land with waste soil from various sectors, including construction. Until this lawsuit is resolved, no revival is expected in the construction sector, and this is also expected to affect the demand for construction steel and scrap metal. Meanwhile, major Taiwanese steel producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices stable this week at TWD 15,600/mt ($500/mt) ex-works, with dollar-based prices down by $3/mt taking the exchange rate into account. Domestic rebar prices announced by the mills in southern Taiwan are at around TWD 15,100/mt ($484/mt) ex-works, but SteelOrbis has heard that there are no buyers.
Over the past week, offer prices for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers have changed from $298/mt CFR to $296-307/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 $315-323/mt CFR. Although the lowest level accepted by sellers is $315/mt CFR, Taiwanese buyers are bidding at $310/mt CFR and below for this grade. No deals have been done by Taiwan this week for Japanese scrap. “It has been two months since the last deal done from Japan. It was closed in early September,” a source in Taiwan commented today, November 14.
Feng Hsin has kept its scrap purchase prices stable this week at TWD 8,600/mt ($276/mt) delivered, down by $1/mt on US dollar basis. Market sources report that the stable trend observed in the import scrap market over the past two months has been reflected in local scrap prices.
$1 = TWD 31.18