Taiwan's Feng Hsin cuts rebar, scrap prices

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to cut its rebar list prices and local scrap buying prices for business negotiations over November 11-15 in response to weakening sentiment in Taiwan's steel market, according to a company official.

With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,600/tonne ($574/t) EXW for transactions till this Friday, down by TWD 200/t from the prior week, the official confirmed. The company's procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also reaches TWD 9,300/t, making for an on-week fall of TWD 300/t.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan have remained soft during the past week, encouraging local mini-mills in Taiwan to lower their buying prices of local scrap accordingly to reduce their production costs, Mysteel Global learned.

As of November 11, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap came in at $318/t CFR Taiwan, down for the third consecutive week by another $2/t on week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap stayed unchanged on week at $325/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said.

Meanwhile, Feng Hsin chose to trim its rebar list prices for this week as sentiment in Taiwan's steel market has been undermined by Beijing's milder-than-expected fiscal stimulus measures announced on November 8, the company official explained.

Rebar prices in the Chinese mainland have also declined with the cooling market mood and the thinning demand from end-users in northern China where falling temperatures are slowing work on construction sites. This has aggravated the negative sentiment in Taiwan's steel market, Mysteel Global noted.

As of November 11, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,532/tonne ($487/t) including the 13% VAT, slipping by Yuan 52/t from one week earlier.

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