Taiwan: Feng Hsin holds rebar, scrap prices again

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has rolled over its rebar list prices and procurement prices for local scrap again for transactions over July 1-5, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.

For business negotiations till this Friday, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,100/tonne ($586/t) EXW for a fifth consecutive week, and it continues to pay TWD 10,500/t for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap this week, according to the official.

Global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan have remained stable for weeks, encouraging local mini-mills to hold their rebar sales prices and procurement prices of local scrap despite the lackluster steel demand from downstream users in summer, Mysteel Global learned.

As of July 1, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was reported at $345/t CFR Taiwan, unchanged since mid-June, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap is still at $357/t CFR Taiwan, the same as it's been for a month, according to a local market source.

However, rebar prices in Chinese mainland hovered low over the past week due to the negative sentiment in the domestic market and weakening demand from local end-users, as reported.

As of July 1, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,629/tonne ($500/t) including the 13% VAT, slipping by Yuan 3/t from one week before.

Over June 24-28, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey registered 118,263 tonnes/day on average, still a low level, though it recovered by 6,398 t/d on week.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.