Taiwan's Feng Hsin rolls over rebar, scrap prices

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list prices and buying prices of local scrap for transactions over December 9-13 to monitor market changes, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,200/tonne ($561/t) EXW, unchanged from one week before, and its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged on week at TWD 8,800/t, the official confirmed.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan weakened during the past week, with the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap falling for the seventh consecutive week by another $5/t on week to stand at $295/t CFR Taiwan as of December 9, the lowest since mid-November 2020, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap was reported at $310/t CFR Taiwan, lower by $5/t from one week earlier, a local market source said.

However, mini-mills in Taiwan are in no hurry to cut their procurement prices of local scrap and list rebar prices this week, as they are determined to hold the two prices to monitor market changes in the coming week. "Global scrap prices may have touched bottom after the steady fall over the past several weeks," the official explained.

Rebar prices in the Chinese mainland have kept rangebound recently amid market expectations that favorable policies will be announced by the central government in the coming term. However, actual demand from end-users remains dull due to lower steel consumption in winter, Mysteel Global noted.

As of December 9, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to China's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,469/tonne ($479/t) including the 13% VAT, gaining by Yuan 6/t on week.

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