Taiwan's Feng Hsin rolls over rebar, scrap prices for this week

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 June 11-14 to monitor the market changes, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.

The mini-mill convened its weekly pricing meeting on this Tuesday instead of the usual Monday, due to the public holiday break in Taiwan on June 10 to celebrate China's Dragon Boat Festival, Mysteel Global learned.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,100/tonne ($590/t) EXW, the same level from the previous week, and its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged on week at TWD 10,500/t, according to the official.

Global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan diverged over the past week, persuading local mini-mills in Taiwan to hold their rebar list prices and buying prices for local scrap this week to wait and see the market changes, Mysteel Global was told.

As of Tuesday, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap came in at $345/t CFR Taiwan, down by $3/t from the prior week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap was reported at $357/t CFR Taiwan, being unchanged on week, according to a local market source.

Taiwan has started the annual power supply rationalization scheme for summer since last month till the end of September, and heavy industrial users of electricity such as EAF mills are requested to curb their power consumption during that period to ensure stable electricity supplies for households.

This means that finished steel output may decrease as mini-mills in Taiwan would usually conduct maintenance on their steelmaking facilities during the hot summer season, Mysteel Global understands.

Rebar prices in Chinese mainland weakened last week on lacklustre demand from end-users. As of June 7, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,758/tonne ($518/t) including the 13% VAT, down by Yuan 72/t from one week before.

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