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 buying prices for local scrap for transactions over January 20-24, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at a four-year low of TWD 17,700/tonne ($541/t) EXW after the price cut of TWD 300/t over the prior week, and its procurement price for local HMS (80:20) scrap stays at TWD 8,600/t, the same level since mid-December, the official confirmed.

Feng Hsin would like to hold its rebar list prices and procurement prices of local scrap to monitor the market changes this week, as it is the last working week in Taiwan before the long public holiday over 25 January-2 February to celebrate the Chinese New Year (CNY), Mysteel Global noted.

Besides, prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan diverged over the past week, aggravating the wait-and-see sentiment in Taiwan's steel market.

As of 20 January, the price of US-sourced HMS (80:20) scrap was reported at $295/t CFR Taiwan, being unchanged from the previous week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap came in at $300/t CFR Taiwan, slipping by $5/t on week, a local market source said.

As for the steel market in Chinese mainland, prices of major steel products strengthened recently with continuous gains seen in the ferrous futures market, though the spot trading cooled down gradually when more end-users left the market ahead of the CNY holiday that officially begins on January 28.

For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,473/t ($477/t) including the 13% VAT as of 20 January, rising by RMB 42/t from one week earlier.

On Monday, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for May delivery closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,354/t, higher by RMB 119/t than the settlement price on 13 January, according to the exchange's data.

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