Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to cut its rebar list prices and buying prices for locally-sourced scrap by TWD 300/tonne ($9.9/t) on week for transactions over March 27-31, in response to the downward slidein global scrap prices, a company official confirmed on Monday.
With its latest adjustment, Feng Hsin is offering its 13mm dia rebar priced at TWD 21,000/t EXW for sales till this Friday, lower by TWD 300/t from the previous week. More prominently, the mini-mill’s buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap is currently TWD 11,900/t, following the reduction of TWD 200/t it had announced last Thursday and yesterday’s TWD 300/t cut.
Behind Feng Hsin’s price cut this week was the steady decline in prices of scrap delivered to Taiwan, the company’s official told Mysteel Global.
For example, as of March 27, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 material shipping to Taiwan had weakened by another $15/t on week to reach $415/t CFR Taiwan. The same day, the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap remained unchanged from the previous week at $435/t CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source.
At the same time, the price for containerized scrap to Taiwan has also fallen sharply, with Japanese sources saying that late last week, a new containerized contract was signed at $418/t CFR on HMS 80:20 basis, some $12-17/t lower than the previous week’s contract price.
Weakening scrap prices in the global market have dampened sentiment in Taiwan’s steel market, prompting local steelmakers to pare their prices accordingly, a company official explained.
Major steel mills in mainland China had also decided to cut their scrap buying prices last week. For example, Shagang Group, the country’s leading electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker headquartered in East China’s Jiangsu, had tabled a further reduction of its steel scrap procurement prices of Yuan 50/tonne ($7.3/t) effective from last Friday, the mill’s its third reduction in a week, as reported.
Written by Carly Chen, chenziyi@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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