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

• Weak rebar sales reinforce cautious market sentiment
• Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan remain stable

Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, Feng Hsin Steel, headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to roll over its rebar list price and buying price of local scrap again for transactions over 10-14 August, according to a company official.

For business discussions through this Friday, the Taiwanese mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm-diameter rebar at TWD 17,800/tonne (t) ($552/t) Exw, marking the third consecutive week that the mill has kept the price unchanged. Its buying price for local HMS 80:20 scrap also stays flat on week at TWD 9,200/t ($286/t), unchanged since mid-July, the official confirmed.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan remained stable, encouraging the mini-mill to hold the rebar list price and buying price of local scrap to monitor market developments, Mysteel Global noted.

As of 10 August, the US-origin HMS 80:20 scrap price was reported at $330/t CFR Taiwan, unchanged since the end of July. No quotation for Japanese H2 scrap was available over the past week, according to a market source in Taiwan.

Feng Hsin’s decision was in line with market expectations, as the lacklustre performance of rebar sales aggravated the wait-and-see sentiment in Taiwan’s steel market, Mysteel Global learned.

Besides, rebar prices in the Chinese mainland have also kept rangebound recently amid weak demand from end-users during the traditional off-season for steel consumption.

As of 10 August, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm rebar under Mysteel’s assessment came in at RMB 3,217/tonne ($477/t) including the 13% VAT, inching up RMB 1/t from one week before.

Construction steel sales still hovered at low levels despite a slight uptick in the past week. The daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel’s tracking nationwide averaged 85,898 t/day over 4 August-10 August, up by 3,836 t/d on week.

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