Taiwan: Feng Hsin holds rebar, scrap prices amid cautious outlook

• Move comes despite rising imported scrap prices
• HMS 80:20 prices remain at 20-month high

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to hold its rebar list prices and local scrap purchase prices for transactions over 20-24 April to monitor market changes, despite the persistent rise in prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the Taiwanese mini-mill continues to offer its 13-mm-diameter rebar at TWD 18,900/tonne (t)($600/t) exw, the same level as one week before, while its buying price for local HMS 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged on week at a 20-month high of TWD 10,100/t ($321/t), the official confirmed.

The latest price rollover marked the end of Feng Hsin’s continuous hikes in rebar list prices since the start of March, which totalled TWD 2,000/t ($64/t) along with increases of TWD 1,300/t ($41/t) in its buying prices for local scrap.

With consecutive price markups since early March, Feng Hsin preferred to keep its rebar list prices and buying prices flat this week to wait and see the changes in local and overseas steel markets, Mysteel Global noted.

Meanwhile, prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan have continued the uptrend, with the price of US-sourced HMS 80:20 scrap rising steadily since the beginning of this year to sit at $362/t CFR Taiwan as of 20 April, up by $4/t on week, while that of Japan-origin H2 scrap increased by $5/t on week to reach $375/t CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source in Taiwan.

In the Chinese mainland, rebar prices have strengthened lately amid healthy fundamentals, as demand from end-users continues to recover while mills’ production hovers at relatively low levels.

For example, China’s national prices of HRB400E 20mm rebar — an indicator of the country’s domestic steel-market sentiment — were assessed by Mysteel at an eight-month high of RMB 3,368/t ($494/t) including 13% VAT as of 20 April, growing by RMB 41/t on week.