Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to raise its rebar list prices by TWD 200/tonne ($6.1/t) for transactions over February 17-21, while its buying prices for local scrap have been rolled over for this week after hikes over the prior two weeks, according to a company official.
For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill is offering its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 18,200/t EXW with the latest adjustment, and its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap stays unchanged on week at TWD 9,200/t, the official confirmed.
Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan have maintained the uptrend recently, with the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap reaching $313/t CFR Taiwan as of February 17, up for the third week by another $3/t from the previous week. By the same day, the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap registered $320/t CFR Taiwan, rising by $5/t from one week earlier, according to a local market source.
The further rises in global scrap prices gave mini-mills in Taiwan some confidence to lift their rebar list prices this week to partly reflect their increased production costs. Meanwhile, rebar sales performed well last week thanks to the replenishments from end-users, which also lent some support to the prices, the company official explained.
On the contrary, finished steel prices in Chinese mainland weakened continuously over the past week, as demand from downstream sectors had not fully recovered after the Chinese New Year holiday ended on February 4, and transactions in the physical market remained dull overall, Mysteel Global noted.
As of February 17, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment came in at Yuan 3,435/tonne ($472/t) including the 13% VAT, slipping by Yuan 44/t from one week ago.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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