Taiwan Feng Hsin's scrap, rebar price drops further

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to trim its rebar list prices by TWD 700/tonne ($23.5/t) for the business discussion over July 18-22 given the pessimism in local steel market, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.

With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 20,600/t EXW for transaction till this Friday, the lowest since May 2021, and its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap has been lowered to a 15-month low of TWD 10,600/t, down another TWD 300/t this week after the decrease of TWD 300/t on July 16, according to the official.

The company's price cut was partly to reflect the continuous fall in global scrap prices, Mysteel Global noted.

As of July 18, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap came in at $365/t CFR Taiwan, down $5/t on week after staying at $370/t for three weeks, and the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap slipped continuously to $370/t CFR Taiwan, down for the seventh straight week by another $10/t from one week earlier, according to a local market source.

Besides, the persistent global inflation also increased the uncertainty in global economy and aggravated the pessimism in commodity market. Last Wednesday, the U.S. announced that the country's June Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged by 9.1% on year, exceeding the market expectation and refreshing the highest since December 1981, Mysteel Global learned.

Chinese finishes steel prices also posted a substantial fall last week, which persuaded local Chinese steelmakers to lower their scarp buying prices continuously. For example, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment had slid by Yuan 314/tonne ($46.6/t) on week to Yuan 3,964/tonne ($621/t) including the 13% VAT as of July 15.

Shagang Group (Shagang), China's leading electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker, has trimmed its steel scrap procurement prices for the seventh time this month on July 15 by another Yuan 150/t, mainly in response to the continuous weakening in Chinese finished steel prices and the current negative market sentiment, as Mysteel Global reported.

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.