Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to roll over its rebar list price and buying price for locally-sourced scrap for the July 12-16 period. The mini-mill says that global scrap market trends are unclear and it wants to monitor changes.
For transactions till this Friday, Feng Hsin’s list price for 13mm dia rebar remains unchanged on week at TWD 23,200/tonne ($829/t) EXW after growing for the previous two weeks by TWD 500/t. The steelmaker, headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, continues to pay TWD 11,900/t for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, also unchanged on week. Over the prior two weeks, it had raised its scrap buying prices by a TWD 600/t, Mysteel Global noted.
Scrap prices in the global market diverged over the past week, encouraging mini-mills in Taiwan to stay on the sidelines to monitor the changes in the coming term before making any decisions about prices, a company official remarked.
As of July 12, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap had moved up for the second week to reach $470/t CFR Taiwan, gaining another $10/t on week, according to a local market source. Conversely, Japan-origin H2 scrap slipped further for the third week, down $9/t on week to $488/t CFR Taiwan. The price has lost $27/t in total in the past three weeks.
Feng Hsin’s rebar sales decreased further last week as local end-users were not willing to build up stocks when prices were so high. However, the mini-mill was not too concerned as “the slowdown in demand only eased the shortage in supply to some extent,” the official explained.
Finished steel output in Taiwan usually decreases in summer when power supplies are regulated by the local government during the peak demand months of June-September. The scheme requires heavy industrial power consumers such as local EAF mills to reduce electricity consumption to ensure stable supplies for households during that period, as reported.
Therefore, mini-mills in Taiwan are taking the opportunity to conduct annual maintenance on their steelmaking facilities. Their scrap consumption also declines accordingly over the four months, Mysteel Global noted.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint Research.
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