Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, Central Taiwan, has decided to lift its rebar list prices by TWD 200/tonne ($7/t) for sales over March 29-April 1, a company official confirmed on Monday. On the other hand, its buying prices for locally-sourced scrap remain unchanged during the same period, given that scrap prices in the global market are stabilizing.
This week is a short working week in Taiwan as the island will be closed over April 2-5 for the Children’s Day and Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mysteel Global notes.
With the adjustment, Feng Hsin is offering its list price of 13mm dia rebar at TWD 19,000/t EXW for sales till this Thursday after the price cut of TWD 600/t over the prior week. Its procurement for locally-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap remains unchanged on week at TWD 10,000/t during the period, according to the official.
Scrap prices in the global market took a pause last week after slumping for two weeks, boosting the sentiment in Taiwan’s steel market, Mysteel Global was told.
As of March 29, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was at $395/t CFR Taiwan, the same level as one week before, while that of Japan-origin H2 scrap recovered by $2/t on week to $410/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said.
“Our rebar sales performed well last week as many users returned to the market to purchase after noting that the fall in the global scrap market had paused,” Feng Hsin’s official said.
Besides, Chinese billet prices have increased rapidly with the on-going restrictions on production at steel mills in Tangshan in North China’s Hebei province, which also lent some support to Taiwan’s steel market.
“Mini-mills in Taiwan usually pay close attention to China billet prices, as some mills need to import billet to produce rebar sometimes,” the official said. “Although the volume (of billet) bought from China is limited, the price change there may affect the sentiment of end-users in Taiwan,” he added.
As of March 28, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price, a barometer of China’s spot steel market, had moved up for a fourth successive day to a 12.5-year high of Yuan 4,770/tonne ($727/t) EXW and including the 13% VAT, 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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