Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to make further cuts to its rebar sales price and the procurement price for its locally-sourced scrap, clipping these by TWD 200/tonne ($6.7/t) respectively for the period over January 20-22 to reflect changes in the global scrap market, a company official told Mysteel Global on January 20.
With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill’s 13mm dia rebar list price has declined to a three-month low of TWD 15,600/t ex-works for this week’s business, while its procurement price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap falls further to TWD 7,500/t, the lowest level since last December, according to Feng Hsin’s official.
On Monday, Feng Hsin still decided to issue a new pricing policy as usual, despite this being a short working week. Taiwan will be closed for Chinese New Year over January 23-29, Mysteel Global notes.
The mini-mill’s price cut was mainly to reflect the decrease in global scrap prices, Mysteel Global was told. “The steel market in Taiwan has been quietening with the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday this week, and most downstream users including construction contractors are not willing to purchase for the moment,” a market source in South Taiwan’s Kaohsiung commented. “They are preparing to halt operations soon to celebrate the new year.”
Shipments have also slowed down recently due to the one-week long holiday, the Kaohsiung source added.
As of January 20, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference for Taiwan’s scrap and rebar markets, continued to slip for a third straight week and saw a sharper week-on-week fall of $8/t to $255/t CFR Taiwan. At the same time Japan-origin H2 scrap was reportedly sold to Taiwan at $264/t CFR, down another $7/t on the week, sources in Taiwan said.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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