Taiwan's Feng Hsin cuts rebar, scrap prices

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to cut its rebar list prices and procurement prices for local scrap by TWD 300/tonne ($9.3/t) each on week for transactions over June 3-7, a company official confirmed.

With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,100/tonne ($604/t) EXW for business discussions till this Friday, while its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap reaches TWD 10,500/t, according to the official.

Global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan remained soft over the past week, preventing them from lending much support to Taiwan's steel market.

As of June 3, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was reported at $348/t CFR Taiwan, the same level from one week before, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap registered $357/t CFR Taiwan, lower by $6/t from the prior week, according to a local market source.

Besides, frequent rainfalls recently have softened rebar demand from Taiwan's building contractors, persuading local mini-mills to concede a little off their offering prices, Mysteel Global noted.

As for the steel market in mainland China, finished steel prices have weakened as demand from users has slowed gradually. Sentiment in the domestic steel market has softened to some extent, which also placed some pressure on Taiwan's steel market.

As of June 3, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar in China, a pointer to the country's domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,790/tonne ($523/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 79/t from one week before and marking the lowest since April 18.

Transactions for construction steel in the physical market decreased, with the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaging 116,795 tonnes/day over May 28-June 3, falling by 17,513 t/d on week.

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