Taiwan's Feng Hsin holds rebar, scrap prices again

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 local scrap again for transactions over September 2-6, according to a company official.

For business negotiations till this Friday, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,500/tonne ($576/t) EXW, staying unchanged for the second week, and it continues to pay TWD 9,600/t for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap this week, the same level since mid-August, the official confirmed.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan remained stable, encouraging local mini-mills in Taiwan to hold their rebar list prices and buying prices for local scrap to monitor the market changes, Mysteel Global learned.

As of September 2, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stayed at $328/t CFR Taiwan, the same level from one week before, and the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap also stayed unchanged on week at $345/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said.

Taiwan's rebar prices may bottom out, as transactions in the physical market have seen significant improvement in southern Taiwan over the past week, the Feng Hsin official said.

Meanwhile, finished steel prices in Chinese mainland maintained the uptrend overall, bolstering market confidence among Taiwanese steelmakers and lending some support to the steel market on the island.

As of September 2, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment reached Yuan 3,317/t ($466/t) including the 13% VAT, still higher by Yuan 31/t from one week before though it had retreated somewhat compared with the recent high of Yuan 3,341/t on August 29.

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