Taiwan's Feng Hsin rolls over rebar, scrap prices

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to hold its rebar list prices and procurement prices for local scrap for transactions over August 26-30 to monitor market changes, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the Taiwanese mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,500/tonne ($580/t) EXW, the same level from the prior week, and its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged on week at TWD 9,600/t, the official confirmed.

Feng Hsin is in no hurry to revise the two prices after its price cuts over the prior week, despite the fall in global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan, Mysteel Global notes.

As of August 26, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stood at $326/t CFR Taiwan, falling by another $12/t from one week before, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap posted a decline of $15/t on fortnight to reach $345/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said. There was no quotation for the Japan-origin H2 scrap over the previous week, as reported.

In parallel, finished steel prices in Chinese mainland experienced a rebound over the past week thanks to improved market sentiment and better performance in spot steel sales, which also encouraged Taiwan's mini-mills to uphold their rebar list prices to reflect such a market trend, Mysteel Global learned.

As of August 26, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment came in at Yuan 3,286/tonne ($461/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 78/t from one week earlier.

Over August 20-26, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 126,571 tonnes/day, increasing by 27.3% on week.

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