Taiwan: Feng Hsin holds rebar and scrap prices

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer, has decided to hold its rebar list price and price for locally-sourced scrap procurement over July 13-17 after two weeks of declines, waiting for clearer signs to see whether the uptrend in the global scrap prices is to sustain, according to company official.

The rollover means that mini-mill, headquartered in Kaohsiung, in south Taiwan, will still offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 14,600/tonne ($496/t) EXW, and its procurement price for locally-supplied HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap at TWD 6,900/t, the official confirmed.

However, the mini-mill has decided to cancel the discounts on rebar sales prices in actual transaction this week on noting better sales over the past week and higher global scrap prices, he disclosed.

Feng Hsin appears in no hurry to adjust the two prices despite that the global scrap prices have been recovering over the past week, as it is still uncertain yet whether the recovery will be continuing in the coming weeks, he explained.

As of July 13, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, reversed up after having softened for two weeks, gaining $3/t on week to $235/t CFR Taiwan, and that of the Japanese H2 scrap posted a greater $15/t on-week rebound to $250/t CFR Taiwan, as overseas steel mills have been booking more cargoes, Mysteel Global learned.

China's domestic scrap prices strengthened too and Shagang Group (Shagang), China's largest electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker, for example, has raised its steel scrap procurement price by Yuan 50/tonne ($7.1/t) starting July 12 for more deliveries, as reported.

Notwithstanding all these, "we are not so confident that increase in the global scrap prices is to stay," the Feng Hsin official admitted, pointing out that the actual demand for scrap from the local mini-mills will probably remain lackluster, which may offset the possible support on the domestic scrap price from the difficulties in scrap collection.

Taiwan usually rationalizes power supplies to mini-mills in summer, forcing them to lower their output over June-September, Mysteel Global understands.

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint Research.