Taiwan Feng Hsin's rebar, scrap prices move up again

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to lift its rebar list prices and buying prices for local scrap for business discussions over June 19-21 to reflect the further rise in global scrap prices, a company official confirmed on Monday.

This week is a short working week in Taiwan due to the public holiday over June 22-23 to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, Mysteel Global noted.

For business negotiations till this Wednesday then, with its latest adjustment the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,300/tonne ($627/t), up another TWD 300/t on week, while its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap has reached TWD 10,700/t, higher by TWD 200/t from the prior week, according to the official.

The additional rise in Feng Hsin's two prices was partly attributed to the higher production costs being incurred by local mini-mills with the further strengthening of prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan, Mysteel Global was told.

As of June 19, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 material was reported at $370/t CFR Taiwan, gaining another $5/t compared with one week earlier, according to a local market source, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap had also increased for the second week by $5/t on week to reach $380/t CFR Taiwan.

In parallel, sentiment in Taiwan's steel market improved to some extent with the strength of the global scrap market and the better performance of finished steel prices in mainland China, Mysteel Global learned.

As of June 16, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was at Yuan 3,884/tonne ($543/t) including the 13% VAT, up by Yuan 57/t on week, according to Mysteel's assessment.

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com

Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com

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