Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to raise its rebar list prices and local scrap buying price for transactions over January 4-8, a company official confirmed on Tuesday, citing better sentiment in the local steel market.
With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,900/tonne ($710/t) EXW for sales till this Friday, higher by another TWD 400/t from one week before. The mill has also lifted its buying price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap by TWD 300/t on week to TWD 11,200/t, Mysteel Global was told.
Feng Hsin’s scrap buying price has been strengthening for the past seven weeks, mainly driven by the strong global scrap market, with the total increase since mid-November being TWD 300/t. In parallel, the mill’s rebar sales price has gained by as much as TWD 4,000/t during the same period, thanks to the better demand from users in the October-December quarter, the traditional peak season for long steel consumption in Taiwan, Mysteel Global noted.
Scrap prices in the global market took a pause temporarily over the Christmas and New Year holidays after the dramatic rise in December. As of January 4, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap in Taiwan stayed at $450/t CFR Taiwan, and that for Japan-origin H2 scrap remained stable at $460/t CFR Taiwan, both unchanged compared with one week earlier, according to a local market source.
However, mini-mills in Taiwan still decided to raise their buying prices for locally-sourced scrap to encourage deliveries, as “scrap prices (in the global market) are likely to continue tracking upward in the coming term on support of the firm demand,” Feng Hsin’s official explained.
Besides, China has reopened the door to steel scrap imports starting January 1 after over two years of imposing restrictions on foreign scrap entering the country, as Mysteel Global reported. This may aggravate the tight supply in the international scrap market and boost the further growth in global scrap prices, sources 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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