Taiwan's Feng Hsin holds rebar, scrap prices

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list prices and procurement prices for transactions over July 15-19 to monitor the market changes this week, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,300/tonne ($592/t) EXW, unchanged on week after the price hike over the prior week, and its buying price of local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stays at TWD 10,500/t, the same level since early June, the official told Mysteel Global.

Mini-mills in Taiwan are in no hurry to adjust their rebar list prices and procurement prices for local scrap this week, as they would like to stand on the sidelines when the recovery in the global scrap market is modest, Mysteel Global noted.

As of July 15, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was reported at $347/t CFR Taiwan, gaining by $2/t from one week before, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap continued to stay at $357/t CFR Taiwan, unchanged since the start of June, the Feng Hsin official added.

Taiwan's rebar supply may stay at a relatively low level in summer, as local mini-mills have to schedule production during the off-peak period for electricity consumption to reduce their production costs.

"Mini-mills in Taiwan need to pay tripling electricity bills if they produce between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. in summer," he explained.

Besides, mini-mills in Taiwan usually conduct annual maintenance on the rolling mills during summer when demand from end-users is not so strong, Mysteel Global learned.

Rebar prices in Chinese mainland kept rangebound over the past week, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, reaching Yuan 3,634/tonne ($) including the 13% VAT as of July 15, up by Yuan 8/t compared with one week before.

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