This means that for its business till this Friday, Feng Hsin continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 14,600/MT (USD 487/MT) ex-works, and is paying scrap dealers the same TWD 7,000/MT for locally sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, according to the official.
The decision of Taichung, Central Taiwan-based Feng Hsin to keep its prices steady for this week was in line with market expectations. “Buying interest (for rebar) among building contractors has already seen some signs of weakness recently after their concentrated restocking in April,” the company’s official told Mysteel Global.
The official expressed concerns about near-term market conditions, pointing out the likelihood of a “stealthy dip” in actual transaction prices for rebars to facilitate sales if demand from end users fails to show some improvement.
However, scrap prices in the global market moved up over the past week in contrast to that in Taiwan’s steel market, Mysteel Global notes.
As of May 11, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, a key reference price for Taiwan’s scrap and rebar markets, reached USD 223/MT CFR Taiwan, gaining USD 8/MT on week after being stable at USD 215/MT for two weeks, a local market source said. Similarly, the price of Japanese H2 scrap reached USD 230/MT CFR Taiwan, reversing up by USD 7/MT on week after a slight retreat of USD 4/MT over the prior week.
Chinese scrap prices have also recovered their upward trajectory since the start of May from the higher scrap consumption of Chinese steel mills against limited availability. On Tuesday Shagang Group, China’s largest EAF producer, announced it was raising its scrap buying prices for a third time this month, with the total increase so far reaching RMB 230/MT (USD 32/MT), as Mysteel Global reported.
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