Taiwan's Feng Hsin cuts rebar list price by $13/t

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to cut its rebar list price by TWD 400/tonne ($12.5/t) on week for transactions over September 16-20, according to a company official.

With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,100/t EXW for business discussions till this Friday, a new low since late December 2020, and its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stands at a 25-month low of TWD 9,300/t after the decrease of TWD 300/t on September 13, the official told Mysteel Global.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan have stayed weak recently, persuading local mini-mills in Taiwan to cut their rebar list prices and buying prices of local scrap accordingly, Mysteel Global noted.

As of September 16, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was reported at $320/t CFR Taiwan, slipping by another $5/t on week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap came in at $325/t CFR Taiwan, seeing a sharper fall of $10/t from one week earlier, a local market source said.

As for the steel market in the Chinese mainland, prices of finished steel in the physical market recovered somewhat last week thanks to sentiment improving with the better performance the ferrous futures market and the uptick in spot sales.

For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,377/tonne ($455/t) including the 13% VAT as of September 14, higher by Yuan 138/t from that on September 6. Saturday was a working day in China due to the public holiday over September 15-17 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Transactions involving construction steel in China also increased significantly last week with better sales of low-priced products. Over September 9-14, the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod, and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 119,618 tonnes/day, up by 20,888 t/d or 21.2% on the week.

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