- Feng Hsin held rebar prices, raised scrap offers.
- Demand weak amid rains and China slowdown.
Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to roll over its rebar list prices for business discussions over 26-30 May, while its procurement prices of local scrap have been raised by another TWD 200/t ($7/t) on week for transactions this week in response to the higher global scrap prices, according to a company official.
With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 17,400/t ($582/t) EXW for business negotiations till this Friday, and its procurement price for local HMS 80:20 scrap reaches TWD 8,600/t ($288/t), the official confirmed.
Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan increased continuously, encouraging mini-mills on the island to raise their buying prices for local scrap accordingly, Mysteel Global was told.
As of 26 May, the price of US-sourced HMS 80:20 scrap came in at $300/t CFR Taiwan, rising for the second week by another $5/t on week, and the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap was reported at $318/t CFR Taiwan after the on-week growth of $5/t, a market source based in Taiwan said.
Although higher scrap prices may lift production costs of Taiwan’s mini-mills, rebar prices on the island have lost the impetus to grow further with demand from end-users shrinking during the wet season.
In parallel, rebar prices in the Chinese mainland also weakened due to the lackluster downstream demand, which aggravated the wait-and-see sentiment in Taiwan’s steel market as well, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at RMB 3,261/t ($454/t) including the 13% VAT as of 26 May, falling by RMB 51/t (47/t)from one week earlier.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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