Taiwan's Feng Hsin Rolls Over Scrap, Rebar Prices

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to once again roll over its rebar list price and its buying price for locally sourced scrap during the January 6-10 week in response to shrinking sales for long steel, a company official disclosed on January 7.

Thus, the mini mill is continuing to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 16,100/tonne ($536/t) till this Friday, and it is paying TWD 7,900/t for locally sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap during the same period, the official confirmed.

As of January 6, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference for Taiwan's scrap and rebar markets, retreated from its four-month high to $265/t CFR Taiwan, down $2/t from one week earlier, and as of Monday, Japan-origin H2 scrap was reportedly sold to Taiwan at $275/t CFR, also seeing a slight decrease of $2/t on week, according to sources from Taiwan.

In fact, the modest change in global scrap prices will not have any significant impact on Taiwan's steel market in the near term, as "downstream buyers prefer to wait and see ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday," Feng Hsin's official indicated.

A market source in South Taiwan's Kaohsiung agreed, adding that steel sales are unlikely to see a significant improvement for the foreseeable future whether prices rise or fall, as "they (downstream users) will halt operations gradually in the coming two weeks to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and demand (for long steel) may shrink further in the coming term," he said.

Most construction sites in Taiwan are still in operation for the time being, but downstream users were not willing to place new orders for the moment given the limited number of trading days ahead of the long holiday, the Kaohsiung-based official explained.

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