Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to cut its rebar list prices by TWD 800/tonne ($26.7/t) for business discussions over July 25-29 in response the drop in global scrap prices and slowing sales in the local market, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,800/t EXW for transactions till this Friday, the lowest since mid-April 2021, while its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap is clipped to TWD 9,800/t, down another TWD 500/t this week after the decrease of TWD 300/t on July 22 and touching the lowest since late February 2021, according to the official.
One major reason for the mini-mill’s steel price cut was the further drop in global scrap prices, Mysteel Global was told.
As of July 25, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap had slipped to $345/t CFR Taiwan, falling by another $20/t on week and marking the lowest since mid-December 2020. Similarly, the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap also decreased by $20/t on week to a 20-month low of $350/t CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source.
Considering the persistent weakness in global scrap markets, mini-mills in Taiwan had to lower their rebar list prices accordingly as “end-users were not active in placing new (rebar) orders, given the pessimism in the local steel market,” the company official explained.
Over the past three months, Feng Hsin’s rebar list price has plunged by TWD 5,300/t, Mysteel Global learned. “We can still achieve positive profit margins though these have shrunk with the fall in steel prices,” the official said.
However, most steel producers in China have lost money with the sharp fall in finished steel prices. Mysteel’s latest weekly survey among 247 blast furnace steel mills nationwide showed that only 9.96% of them were profitable as of July 22.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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