Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has lowered its rebar list price by TWD 500/tonne ($18/t) on week for sales over December 6-10 in response to the sluggish demand from end-users, a company official confirmed on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the mini-mill has rolled over its buying price for locally-sourced scrap for this week.
With the latest adjustment, Feng Hsin’s 13mm dia rebar touches a seven-month low of TWD 21,800/t EXW, and its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stays unchanged at TWD 11,700/t for the fourth week, Mysteel Global noted.
The steel producer decided to cut its rebar list prices this week to facilitate sales as “new orders from end-users have remained low for several weeks,” according to the official.
Nevertheless, Taiwan’s prices for local scrap still gain support from the relatively firm prices in the global market. “Scrap traders in Taiwan are not hasty to make deliveries recently, and this has contributed to fewer deliveries being made to local mills’ yards,” the official added.
As of December 6, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was assessed at $460/t CFR Taiwan, staying unchanged on week after rising by $5/t over the prior week, though the price for Japan-origin H2 scrap retreated by $5/t on week to $485/t CFR Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese market source.
Mini-mills in Taiwan usually ramp up their production over October-December after the relaxation of annual power supply rationing over June-September, as demand from the construction sector usually stays firm in the fourth quarter.
Consequently, Feng Hsin has held its procurement price for local scrap to encourage more deliveries to meet its growing demand, though demand for rebar remains lukewarm for now, Mysteel Global understood.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an exchange agreement between MySteel Global and SteelMint.
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