Taiwan's Feng Hsin Holds Scrap, Rebar Prices Unchanged

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list price and its buying price for locally sourced scrap over December 23-27 after having raised both over the prior two weeks by a total of TWD 400/tonne ($13.3/t) respectively, a company official confirmed on December 23.

Feng Hsin, thus, continues to sell its 13mm dia rebar at the three months high of TWD 16,100/t till this Friday, and during the same period, the mini-mill's buying price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap will hover at TWD 7,900/t, or a high since September, according to the company official.

"Many downstream buyers have adopted a wait-and-see tactic after consecutive price rises, and new orders (for long steel) shrank last week," he explained.

Global scrap prices have stayed on the uptrend, but the pace of climb-ups slowed down since last week, which was part of the reason why the Taiwanese mini mill decided against another price rise for this week, the official added. Feng Hsin, instead, would like to see where the global scrap prices go before it makes its next move, according to him.

As of December 23, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference for Taiwan's scrap and rebar markets, rose another $2/t on week to its four-month high of $267/tonne, and as of Monday, the Japan-origin H2 scrap was reported at $277/t CFR Taiwan, also up $2/t on week, according to the local sources in Taiwan.

In the near term, Taiwan's steel market is expected to stay robust as now it is the traditional peak season for steel consumption especially for construction steel in Taiwan until the Chinese New Year holiday, the Feng Hsin official shared the confidence. Many ongoing construction sites will try to complete the works ahead of the holiday, the most important festival for the Chinese and also a good period to promote new housing projects in the market, Mysteel Global understands.

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.