Feng Hsin appears reluctant to cut its rebar and scrap prices further this week, especially on noting the slow-down in global scrap price softening, and rebar demand from local end-users has shown no retreat despite rebar list price cuts in the prior two weeks, he explained.
Until Friday, the Taiwanese mini-mill, thus, will still offer its 13mm dia rebar at a six-month low of TWD 22,300/tonne ($802/t) EXW, or taking a pause from two weeks of list price cuts by a total decrease of TWD 1,100/t, and its procurement price for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, thus, remains at TWD 11,700/t after two weeks of trims by TWD 900/t in total, Mysteel Global noted.
As of November 22, US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap price slipped for the fourth week by another $5/t to $455/t CFR Taiwan, and Japan-origin H2 scrap price fell to $480/t CFR Taiwan though the weekly drop slowed to $8/t against the $37/t decline in the previous week, according to the Taiwanese market sources.
Feng Hsin understand, though, that it may be able to increase its rebar sales with further price cuts. “They (end-users) are not active in placing new orders for the time being with the pessimism prevailing in Taiwan’s local steel market, but they will order more if they can get some more discounts from the suppliers,” the official explained.
The October-December quarter is usually a peak steel consumption season in Taiwan as the outdoor construction tend to be operating as per normal without the disruption of extreme weathers such as typhoons or heavy rains in summer, and many local contractors also accelerate the pace, hoping to complete the construction before the Chinese New Year that usually falls in January-February, Mysteel Global understands.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under exchange agreement between MySteel global and SteelMint.
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