Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to raise both its rebar list prices and local scrap buying price by TWD 300/tonne ($10.5/t) over November 23-27, and both have returned to their respective pre-pandemic levels, with the former at a new high since mid-September 2019 and the latter a 15-month high, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
After having rolled over both the prices for two weeks, Feng Hsin, headquartered in Kaohsiung, south Taiwan, is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 16,200/t EXW for the business till this Friday, and its procurement price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap has reached TWD 8,200/t, according to the official.
Feng Hsin’s latest price increases are meant to partially transferring higher costs in scrap on its persistent strengthening, as “the global scrap prices have touched its 1.5-year high, and the growth in November so far has exceeded $25/t,” he explained.
Scrap prices in the global market has been spiralling up since around July and August on the restart of economies and industries in many nations, and the prices have been steadily strengthening in the past few weeks on the continuing growth in demand from the steel mills in many continents, Mysteel Global noted.
As of November 23, the price of U.S.-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap in Taiwan increased for the sixth straight week to $310/t CFR Taiwan, or marking a 20-month high after another $10/t on-week rise, and the Japan-origin H2 scrap was imported at $325/t CFR Taiwan, or up $8/t on week, according to local market source in Taiwan.
Many mini-mills in Taiwan, thus, have had to raise their scrap buying prices accordingly as they have been importing scrap for their steel production, and Feng Hsin, for example, has been importing about 40% scrap it to fulfil its needs, Mysteel Global learned.
It has helped that steel demand in Taiwan, meanwhile, has improved in the fourth quarter, usually a good steel sales season in the region, and China Steel Corp, the largest steel mill in Taiwan, for example, saw its carbon steel sale up 9.5% on month to 889,930 tonnes for October, as reported.
Nevertheless, Taiwan’s finished steel market has not been able to match the pace of marching in the global scrap market, and Feng Hsin’s price adjustments of both rebar and scrap have been more moderate compared with the surge in the global scrap prices, Mysteel Global noted.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint Research.
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