Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, central Taiwan, has decided to raise its rebar list price and procurement price for locally-sourced scrap by TWD 300/tonne ($10.8/t) on week for transactions over January 24-28 in response to the further growth in global scrap prices, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
The price hike is Feng Hsin’s first since mid-December, Mysteel Global noted. With the latest adjustment, the mini-mill’s list price for 13mm dia rebar rises to TWD 21,400/t EXW, and its procurement price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap reaches TWD 12,000/t, according to the official.
Scrap prices in the global market have strengthened further, thanks to the firm demand, encouraging Taiwan’s local mini-mills to lift their rebar list prices accordingly, Mysteel Global noted.
As of January 24, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap increased for the second week by another $10/t on week to $455/t CFR Taiwan, while the price for Japan-origin H2 scrap came in at $502/t CFR Taiwan after hovering below $500/t for ten weeks, jumping by $13/t from the prior week, according to a local market source.
However, scrap prices in Japan’s domestic market were stable as most mini-mills in Japan are preferring to hold their scrap prices, given their sufficient stocks at hand, as Mysteel Global reported.
Meanwhile, steady consumption from Taiwan’s end-users also provides some support to local rebar prices, as most construction companies continue to observe normal operations despite the looming Chinese New Year holiday over January 29-February 6.
This is different from China, where local traders have started winding down operations gradually since mid-January to celebrate the festival, where the official holiday actually spans January 31-February 6. Spot trading of construction steel has come to a standstill since the beginning of this week, Mysteel Global learned.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an exchange agreement between MySteel Global and SteelMint.
Leave a Reply