Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer, has decided to roll over its rebar list prices and procurement prices of local scrap for transactions over July 21-25 after the price cut over the prior week, according to a company official.

For business discussions till this Friday, the mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm dia rebar at TWD 16,200/tonne ($552/t) EXW, the same level from the previous week, and it is paying TWD 7,800/t for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap, unchanged on week, the official confirmed.

Although global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan increased slightly over the past week, the Taiwanese mini-mill opted to hold the two prices to monitor market changes in the near term, Mysteel Global was told.

As of July 21, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap came in at $298/t CFR Taiwan, rising by $5/t on week, and the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap gained $2/t on week to reach $305/t CFR Taiwan, according to a local market source.

Besides, steel demand from end-users in Taiwan remained lackluster overall during the traditional summer off-season for steel consumption, keeping local mini-mills on the sidelines, Mysteel Global noted.

However, spot rebar prices in the Chinese mainland continued to strengthen as market sentiment turned bullish with growing expectations for macroeconomic policy stimulus and firmer gains seen across the ferrous futures market.

For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,384/t ($472/t) including the 13% VAT as of July 21, growing by Yuan 93/t on week.

On Monday, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in October closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,224/t, also higher by Yuan 93/t from the settlement price one week earlier.

Source:Mysteel Global