Taiwan's Feng Hsin rolls over rebar, scrap prices

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer, has rolled over both its rebar list price and buying price for the locally-sourced scrap over June 22-24, taking a pause after having raised both the prices by TWD 600/tonne ($20.3/t) in the previous two weeks, and to see where the global scrap market goes, a company official explained.

It is a short working week in Taiwan this week, as the island will be celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival on June 25-26, and the Chinese mainland will be closed on those two days too for the festival, Mysteel Global notes.

Feng Hsin, thus, is still offering 13mm dia rebar at TWD 15,200/t ex-works, and its procurement price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stays at TWD 7,600/t, according to the company official.

The mini mill, headquartered in Central Taiwan's Taichung city, is also in no hurry to adjust the scrap price, as the global scrap market has shown signs of softening. "we would like to wait and see first whether the trend will continue," he added.

As of June 15, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference price for Taiwan's scrap and rebar markets, hovered at its 4.5-month high of $250/t CFR Taiwan after three weeks of gains earlier on, while the Japanese H2 scrap price reversed down $13/t on week from its five-month high, reaching $260/t CFR Taiwan, a local source shared.

The fall in Japanese scrap is within the market expectation, as demand from overseas buyers has appeared weakening recently after the concentrated buying and consistent price strengthening, and scrap consumption from mini mills such as in Taiwan and Japan will also recede in the hot summer because of the power supply rationalization, Mysteel Global understands.

"The US-sourced scrap may be near the peak too," the Feng Hsin official said. Steel consumption in Taiwan usually ease too in the summer months of June-September because of the hotness and frequent rainfalls.