Taiwan's Feng Hsin Rolls Over Rebar, Scrap Prices

Taiwan's Feng Hsin Steel, the largest rebar producer in Taiwan headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list price and procurement price for locally sourced scrap over March 2-6, a company official confirmed on Monday. The mini mill had noted that scrap prices in the global market were stable while new orders for long steel from local downstream users were softening.

Thus, for the business till this Friday, Feng Hsin is continuing to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 15,300/tonne ($510/t) and paying TWD 7,000/t for locally sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, according to the official. The mill had lifted the two prices the prior week by TWD 500/t respectively.

"Steel scrap prices in the global market remained stable over the past one week, and at the same time, our new orders for long steel (from building contractors) slowed down in response to the price hike previously," Feng Hsin's official explained.

As of March 2, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference for Taiwan's scrap and rebar markets, was unchanged at $243/t CFR Taiwan after the significant rebound of $18/t from its mid-February four-month low. The Japan-origin H2 scrap price also remained unchanged from one week earlier at $250/t CFR Taiwan, according to market sources.

Market participants in Taiwan believe that steel demand from downstream users will perform reasonably well in the coming term, even though orders are showing some signs of slowing down for the moment. They note that March is usually the peak season for steel consumption and Taiwan's steel market has not been seriously affected by the novel Coronavirus disease outbreak.

Some provisional quietness after the centralized procurement of construction steel buyers is quite normal, and demand is expected to recover sooner or later with the consumption of products in hand, Mysteel Global learned from a local market.

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