Taiwan: Feng Hsin’s rebar, scrap prices remain stable amid weak demand

• Feng Hsin adopts wait-and-watch approach for pricing
• US-origin HMS 80:20 rises by $5/t w-o-w CFR Taiwan 

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 buying prices for local scrap for transactions over 12-16 January to monitor any market changes in the coming week, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13 mm-diameter rebar at TWD 16,400/tonne (t) ($518/t) exw, the same as last week, and its buying price for local HMS 80:20 scrap also stays unchanged w-o-w at TWD 8,400/t ($266/t), the official confirmed.

Prices of global scrap delivered to Taiwan have remained firm, with that of US-sourced HMS 80:20 standing at $305/t CFR Taiwan as of 12 January, rising by $5/t from one week earlier, while the price for Japanese H2 scrap was reported at $315/t CFR Taiwan, the same level as mid-October, according to a local market source.

Feng Hsin is in no hurry to raise its buying price of local scrap this week after the on-week rise of TWD 200/t ($6/t) for the week of 29 December-2 January. Meanwhile, demand for rebar from local end-users remains weak overall, a factor that has persuaded the mini-mill to hold its rebar and scrap prices in wait-and-see mode, Mysteel Global noted.

Rebar prices on the Chinese mainland strengthened recently in response to improved market sentiment. Meanwhile, transactions of construction steel in the physical market also picked up due to the replenishment of end-users, especially among those in southern China.

As of 12 January, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm rebar-an indicator of domestic steel-market sentiment-was assessed by Mysteel at RMB 3,342/t ($479/t), including 13% VAT, increasing by RMB 27/t from one week before.

Mysteel’s other survey showed that daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses throughout China averaged 100,162 t/day over 6-12 Jnauary, higher by 11,712 t/d or 13.2% on week.

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