Although Taiwan’s import scrap market has recorded slight increases in prices, most market players believe that, despite this, scrap prices may be considered to be stable. The extreme hot weather conditions in Taiwan have caused trading to slow down, while the Taiwanese rebar market has been very silent this week. A source at a major Taiwanese producer commented, “Delivery and shipping to end-users is extremely slow. The TWD 100/mt delivery discount does not help either. Some producers have high rebar stocks.” During the current week, major Taiwanese producer Feng Hsin has kept its domestic rebar prices unchanged in the local currency over the past week at TWD 18,700/mt ($570/mt) ex-works, with a decline of $5/mt in the dollar price.
Offers for ex-US HMS I/II (80:20) scrap in containers to Taiwan have moved up from $347/mt CFR to $347-352/mt CFR. There have been deals closed at around $345-347/mt CFR this week, with a $3/mt drop on the upper end seen in prices. Taiwanese producers report that ex-US scrap offers to Taiwan are limited.
Ex-Japan offers for H1/2 (50:50) scrap by bulk to Taiwan moved up by $5/mt over the past week to $360-365/mt CFR. No deal in this range has been heard.
Since the import scrap segment is still considered stable by Taiwanese players, domestic HMS I/II 80:20 scrap prices have also moved sideways at TWD 11,100/mt ($338/mt) delivered to mill, with the dollar-based price down $3/mt week on week.
$1 = TWD 32.78