Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to lift its rebar list price further by a large TWD 900/tonne ($32/t) on week for sales over May 17-21 in response to the sharp growth in global scrap prices, a company official confirmed.
For sales till this Friday, Feng Hsin’s list price for 13mm dia rebar has been raised to TWD 22,400/t EXW, up for the eighth consecutive week and taking the total rise to TWD 3,600/t. The mini-mill is paying TWD 12,100/t for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap this week, up another TWD 600/t on week, according to the official.
The higher raw material price is the major reason for Feng Hsin’s price hike this time, as demand from end-users is not so strong, Mysteel Global was told. “Many end-users just want to place an order and lock in the price in advance before it goes higher,” the official said.
As of May 17, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was assessed at $475/t CFR Taiwan, higher by $35/t on week, while the prices of Japan-origin H2 scrap posted sharper on-week growth of $47/t to reach $507/t CFR Taiwan after taking a pause over the prior week, a local market source said.
Finished steel prices in China have shown signs of retreating since the second half of last week, but it seems that Taiwan’s steel market has not been affected so far, Mysteel Global noted.
“I hope that Taiwan’s steel prices remain firm in the near term as the growth over the past several weeks was modest compared with the dramatic rise in China,” the official commented. “And anyway, for the time being rebar sales prices in Taiwan are still far below those in overseas markets.”
China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a barometer of the country’s spot steel market sentiment, was assessed at Yuan 5,826/tonne ($907/t) including the 13% VAT as of May 17, down Yuan 421/t on week or losing Yuan 522/t from the all-time high reached on May 12, according to Mysteel’s data.
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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