Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has raised both its rebar list prices and local scrap buying price to their new highs since January in the week of November 2-6 after another upward adjustment by the same degree of TWD 300/tonne ($10.5/t) for the second week, in response to the firm global scrap prices, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
With the latest adjustment, Feng Hsin, headquartered in Kaohsiung in south Taiwan, is offering its 13mm dia rebar at 15,900/t EXW for this week, and it is paying TWD 7,900/t for the locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, according to the official.
“We have had to raise both the prices together this week because of the further strengthening in the global scrap prices, even though our rebar sales had been lackluster last week,” he said.
As of November 2, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap had climbed for the third consecutive week to $285/t CFR Taiwan, or up another $7/t on week, and that of the Japanese H2 scrap increased by another $5/t on week to $300/t CFR Taiwan, or having been up for five weeks to a new high since late-September, the Feng Hsin official added.
The local mini-mills expect rebar demand from the end-users to improve moderately this week, as contractors should return to the market to place new orders on noting the consistent rally in the global scrap prices. Besides, “they (end-users) need to replenish some products after having stayed on the sidelines for the past few weeks, consuming their in-plant stocks,” the Feng Hsin official said.
The fourth quarter of every year, with the amiable weather, is usually a robust steel consumption season in Taiwan, as many construction sites are trying to wrap up the projects by the year end or before the Chinese New Year, Mysteel Global understands.
Scrap prices have been resilient recently worldwide and that in China also posted gain amid the firm demand, and Shagang Group, China’s largest electric-arc-furnace mill headquartered in Zhangjiagang city, East China’s Jiangsu province, for example, has lifted its scrap procurement prices by Yuan 50/tonne ($7.5/t) effective October 31, which many other Chinese mills have followed the suit.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint Research.
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