Taiwan Feng Hsin's rebar list price gains $6/t on week
ABSTRACT “Responding to higher production costs, Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has dec...
ABSTRACT
"Responding to higher production costs, Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to raise its rebar list price by TWD 200/tonne ($6.3/t) for transactions over October 17-21, a company official confirmed on Tuesday."
With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill's list price for 13mm dia rebar reaches TWD 20,200/t EXW for business negotiations till this Friday, while its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stays unchanged on week at TWD 10,900/t, according to the official.
Feng Hsin's decision to hike its rebar price was mainly to reflect increases in its steelmaking costs rather than to capitalize on any improvement in demand from end-users which remains mediocre, Mysteel Global learned.
As of October 17, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was reported at $370/t CFR Taiwan, rising for the second week by another $5/t on week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap had also recovered to $380/t CFR Taiwan, higher by $5/t against the prior week's drop of $15/t, according to a local market source.
"We cannot get heathy profit margins on rebar sales if we continue to sell at the current prices," the official explained.
Although the pleasant autumn weather usually helps to make the fourth quarter a peak season for steel consumption in Taiwan, many local market participants are not so confident about the market in the coming term as demand from end-users is not as strong as market insiders had expected.
Besides, the resurgence of COVID-19 in many regions of China also aggravated the negative sentiment in Taiwan's steel market, Mysteel Global was told.
Chinese finished steel prices softened recently due to the lackluster demand, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment reaching Yuan 4,100/tonne ($570/t) including the 13% VAT as of October 17, lower by Yuan 100/t from that on October 8, the first working day after the National Day holiday.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
