Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list prices for all business discussions during August 1-5. However, the mini-mill is cutting its buying price for locally-sourced scrap by TWD 500/tonne ($16.7/t) in response to the lower scrap prices in the global market, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
With the latest adjustment, the steelmaker is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,800/t EXW for transactions till this Friday, unchanged from one week before, while its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap declines to TWD 9,300/t, the lowest since mid-February 2021, according to the official.
International scrap prices continued to weaken over the past week, encouraging mini-mills in Taiwan to lower their procurement price for local scrap accordingly, Mysteel Global noted.
As of August 1, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap had decreased to $335/t CFR Taiwan, down for the third consecutive week by another $10/t on week, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap slipped by $10/t on week to $340/t CFR Taiwan, the lowest since December 2020, according to a local market source.
Although Feng Hsin is keeping its rebar list prices unchanged this week, the mill will be prepared to discount during actual trading negotiations, as “local demand (for rebar) has not seen any significant recovery so far, and many end-users are waiting for prices to decrease further,” the company official explained.
As for the Chinese steel market, finished steel prices recovered somewhat with the improved market sentiment. For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of the domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,300/tonne ($635/t) including the 13% VAT as of August 1, higher by Yuan 225/t from one week earlier.
Considering the rise in finished steel prices, some major steel producers in China have lifted their scrap buying prices accordingly to encourage deliveries, given their depleted stocks of scrap at hand, Mysteel Global learned.
Shagang Group (Shagang), China’s leading electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker in East China’s Jiangsu province, has raised its scrap buying price by Yuan 100/t effective August 1, its first increase after the mill had aggressively cut prices no fewer than 13 times by a total of Yuan 1,150/t since June 14, as reported.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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