Feng Hsin Steel, Taiwan's largest rebar producer headquartered in Taichung, has decided to keep its rebar list prices and procurement prices for local scrap unchanged for transactions between May 13-17 to monitor market changes this week, as confirmed by a company official on Tuesday.

The Taiwanese mini-mill continues to offer its 13mm diameter rebar at TWD 19,400/tonne ($598/t) EXW, the same level as the previous week. Its buying price for local HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap also remains unchanged at TWD 10,800/t for business discussions until Friday.

Global scrap prices delivered to Taiwan have diverged recently. As of May 13, the price of US-sourced HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap decreased slightly to $353/t CFR Taiwan, down $2/t from the previous week. In contrast, the price of Japan-origin H2 scrap was reported at $365/t CFR Taiwan, higher by $4/t from two weeks ago, according to a local market source. There was no quotation for Japan-origin H2 scrap for the first week of this month due to public holidays in Japan.

Local mini-mills in Taiwan aim to hold their procurement prices for local scrap and rebar list prices to observe the market, as finished steel prices in mainland China decreased over the past week. Steel demand from end-users failed to meet expectations after the country's Labour Day holiday ended on May 5, aggravating the wait-and-see sentiment in Taiwan's steel market to some extent.

As of May 13, the national price of HRB400E 20mm diameter rebar in China, an indicator of the domestic steel market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,817/tonne ($527/t) including 13% VAT, sliding for the fifth consecutive working day or lower by Yuan 28/t from the previous week.