Taiwan's Feng Hsin Raises Scrap Price, Rolls Over Rebar

Taiwan's largest rebar producer, Feng Hsin Steel, headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to lift its buying price for locally sourced scrap after observing the price rebound in the global scrap market over the April 13-17 week. However, the mini-mill is keeping its rebar list price stable, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.

After the latest adjustment, Feng Hsin is lifting its price for locally sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap by TWD 200/MT (USD 47/MT) to reach TWD 6,500/MT this week, while the mini-mill is continuing to offer its 13MM dia rebar at TWD 14,300/MT ex-works for sales till this Friday, Mysteel Global notes.

Global scrap prices reversed up last week, which propelled mini-mills in Taiwan to raise their buying prices for locally sourced scrap accordingly, Feng Hsin's official commented.

As of April 13, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key price reference for Taiwan's scrap and rebar markets, was at USD 210 CFR Taiwan after gaining USD 10/MT from one week before. That for Japanese H2 scrap saw a same week-on-week growth of USD 10/MT to USD 215/MT CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source.

Despite the rebound in global scrap prices, mini-mills in Taiwan are not very confident that the increase can be sustained over the near term, Mysteel Global learned. "The price rebound may be temporary as scrap suppliers are not willing to accept further cuts when prices have slipped almost to their cost," the local source said, adding that after noting the improved price, many scrap suppliers would like to increase their sales to guarantee a better profit margin.

Feng Hsin's rebar sales stayed at a healthy level last week, which gave the company some confidence to raise its rebar selling price in actual transactions this week, Mysteel Global notes. "This week we have removed the discount we usually give to the customers (in actual transactions), though our list price remains unchanged," he explained.

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