Taiwan Feng Hsin’s rebar, scrap prices keep stable

• Feng Hsin holds rebar and scrap prices steady
• China rebar prices firm on low inventories

Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung in central Taiwan, has decided to hold its rebar list prices and local scrap procurement prices steady for transactions over December 22-26 to monitor the market changes, according to a company official.
For business discussions valid until this Friday, Feng Hsin continues to offer its 13mm-diameter rebar at TWD 16,400/tonne (t) ($521/t) exw, the same level as during the previous week. Its buying price for local HMS 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged on week at TWD 8,200/t ($261/t), the official confirmed.

Feng Hsin is in no hurry to adjust its rebar list prices and procurement prices of local scrap, as prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan remain stable, Mysteel Global noted.

As of 22 December, the price of US-sourced HMS 80:20 scrap was at $300/t CFR Taiwan, still unchanged since late September, while the price for Japanese H2 scrap was at $315/t CFR Taiwan, the same level as mid-October, according to a local market source.

Lackluster rebar demand from local end-users is another factor behind the mini-mill’s decision to hold its list prices and adopt a wait-and-see approach, Mysteel Global learned.

Rebar prices in the Chinese mainland remained firm recently, mainly thanks to positive market sentiment and the healthy fundamentals.

On 22 December, Mysteel assessed China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm rebar – an indicator of domestic steel-market sentiment at RMB 3,328/t ($473/t) including 13% VAT, higher by RMB 39/t ($6/t) from one week earlier.

Rebar inventories held by both Chinese steelmakers and traders have steadily declined of late and this, combined with elevated production costs, has provided some support to domestic rebar prices.

Mysteel’s latest weekly survey showed that as of December 18, total rebar stocks at warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities monitored by Mysteel slipped to 4.93 million tonnes, down for the tenth consecutive week by 5.6% on week.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.