Taiwan: Feng Hsin raises rebar prices, holds scrap stable amid weak demand

• Local scrap buy prices unchanged in Taiwan
• Taiwan rebar demand yet to recover meaningfully

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to hike its rebar list price by TWD 200/tonne (t) ($6.3/t) for transactions over 19-23 January, while rolling over its buying price of local scrap to monitor market changes, according to a company official.

With the latest price adjustment, the Taiwanese mini-mill is offering its 13mm-diameter rebar at TWD 16,600/t ($525/t) exw for business discussions till this Friday, while its buying price for local HMS 80:20 scrap stays unchanged on week at TWD 8,400/t ($266/t), the official confirmed.

Feng Hsin has raised its rebar list price for the first time in two months, citing that its current sales prices are too low, while the costs of global scrap delivered to Taiwan stay rather firm, Mysteel Global was told.

As of 19 January, the price of US-sourced HMS 80:20 scrap came in at $308/t CFR Taiwan, increasing for the second week by $3/t on week, while the price for Japanese H2 scrap was reported at $315/t CFR Taiwan, the same level as that in mid-October, according to a local market source.

However, Taiwan’s rebar demand from local end-users has yet to see significant recovery, even though the construction of certain projects may accelerate ahead of the Chinese New Year in mid-February this year, Mysteel Global noted.

Rebar prices on the Chinese mainland started this week with a slight retreat as downstream demand contracted further due to a swath of sharp temperature drops and widespread snow and rain across the country lately.

Mysteel’s assessment showed that China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm rebar-an indicator of domestic steel-market sentiment- reached RMB 3,336/t ($479/t) including 13% VAT as of 19 January, dipping by RMB 6/t from one week earlier.

During 13 January-19 January, daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses throughout China averaged 87,750 t/day on average, down by a marked 12,412 t/d or 12.4% on week, according to Mysteel’s survey.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.