Taiwan's Feng Hsin raising rebar, scrap prices by $9/t

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to hike its rebar list prices and buying prices of local scrap by TWD 300/tonne ($9.3/t) on week for transactions over October 14-18, according to a company official.

With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,600/t EXW for business discussions till this Friday, and its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stands at TWD 9,400/t, the official confirmed.

One major reason for Feng Hsin's price hike was the increase in prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan over the past week, which lifted the production costs of local mini-mills, Mysteel Global noted.

As of October 14, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap came in at $320/t CFR Taiwan, higher by $10/t from the previous week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap posted a sharper on-week increase of $15/t to reach $330/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said.

Besides, rebar sales have performed well recently, giving Taiwan's mini-mills some confidence to raise their list prices accordingly, Mysteel Global was told.

However, market participants in Taiwan fear that the enthusiasm of local end-users for buying may be dampened this week if rebar prices in the Chinese mainland do not resume climbing after their fluctuations over the past week.

As of October 14, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,901/tonne ($548/t) including the 13% VAT. The price had recovered by Yuan 36/t from that on October 11, though it was still Yuan 79/t lower compared with that on October 8, the first working day in Chinese mainland after the National Day holiday.

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