- Taiwan’s Feng Hsin trims rebar again
- Scrap stays firm despite global softness
Mysteel Global: Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan’s largest rebar producer, has decided to lower its rebar list prices by TWD 200/tonne ($7/t) on week for transactions over 12-16 May, a company official has confirmed. The mini-mill will keep its procurement prices for local scrap unchanged from the previous week, however.
With the latest adjustment, the offering price of Feng Hsin’s 13mm dia rebar is now at TWD 17,200/t ($568/t)EXW for business discussions till this Friday, down for the second consecutive week by a total of TWD 600/t and marking the lowest since mid-December 2020. On the other hand, for this week the company’s procurement price for local HMS 80:20 scrap remains stable at TWD 8,200/t ($271/t), the official confirmed.
The mini-mill is holding its buying prices for local scrap this week to monitor market changes, as global prices of scrap delivered to Taiwan diverged over the past week.
As of 12 May, the price of US-sourced HMS 80:20 scrap was still at the 4.5-year low of $288/t CFR Taiwan, the same level from one week before, while the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap had slipped by $7/t on fortnight to reach $308/t CFR Taiwan, a local market source said. There was no quotation for Japan-origin H2 scrap over the previous week due to the public holiday in the country, as reported.
Feng Hsin’s decision to clip its rebar list price this week by TWD 200/t ($7/t) after slashing this price by a larger TWD 400/t ($13/t) last week reflects the lackluster demand for construction steel among users and the negative sentiment prevailing in the local steel market, Myseel Global noted.
Rebar prices in the Chinese mainland also remained weak overall during the past week, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel’s assessment, standing at RMB 3,317/t ($461/t) including the 13% VAT as of 12 May, lower by RMB 34/t ($5/t) from the end of April, though it had recovered by RMB 15/t (2/t) compared with the recent low on 9 May.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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