Taiwan Feng Hsin’s rebar, scrap prices rise sharply

Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, central Taiwan, has decided to raise its rebar list prices and procurement prices for locally-sourced scrap by TWD 1,200-1,400/tonne ($42-49/t) for business over March 14-18 to reflect the surge in global scrap prices and firm demand from local buyers, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.

With the latest price adjustment, the mini-mill’s list price for 13mm dia rebar is now at TWD 24,400/t EXW, up for the second week by a sharper TWD 1,400/t on week after the previous on-week rise of TWD 700/t. The company’s buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also climbs by another TWD 1,200/t on week to TWD 14,500/t, according to the official.

“The price hike was partly due to the substantial growth in global scrap prices,” an official told Mysteel Global.

As of March 14, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap was at $555/t CFR Taiwan, jumping by $50/t from one week before, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap posted a sharper rise of $65/t to $610/t CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source.

Meanwhile, the firm demand from end-users is also giving local mini-mills some confidence to raise their list prices. “Rebar prices of some mini-mills in Taiwan are higher than ours, but their products are sold out too,” the Feng Hsin official said, adding that rebar prices will likely strengthen further in the coming term.

China’s scrap prices also moved up last week thanks to the firm demand from domestic steelmakers and the low scrap deliveries to mills, but the growth was much smaller than that in the global market, Mysteel Global noted.

As of March 11, China’s domestic steel scrap price index under Mysteel’s assessment came in at Yuan 3,700.2/tonne ($580/t) on delivery and including the 13% VAT, up Yuan 53.3/t from one week earlier.

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an exchange agreement between MySteel Global and SteelMint.