On May 17, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel announced new local HRC prices for July shipment, reducing them by more than $60/mt as compared to the previous offers announced back in April. This move was expected by local buyers given the pressure from cheap ex-China offers, coupled with still weak domestic demand in the country. However, according to sources, prices from Formosa are still higher than the more competitive offers coming from China.
More specifically, Formosa Ha Tinh’s prices for re-rolling SAE1006 HRC (skin-passed) to local customers have been voiced at $625-628/mt CIF, down by $64-67/mt from the previous month, while for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC the price level has dropped to $620-623/mt CIF, versus $682-687/mt CIF last month. The decision to cut prices came after yet another drop in import HRC prices, from China in particular.
Prices of imported HRC have shown a rapid fall this week. Accordingly, the prices for ex-China position SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at $590-600/mt CFR Vietnam, versus $610-615/mt CFR last week, with a deal for around 5,000-10,000 mt reported to have been done at $590/mt CFR. Besides, according to sources, Vietnamese customers bids have already been heard at $580/mt CFR levels. Meanwhile, offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been reported at $550-555/mt CFR, down by $10-15/mt week on week, with a few deals reported to have been signed at $540-550/mt CFR this week.
Other foreign suppliers have continued to maintain their offers at high levels for Vietnam given their focus on other destinations. In particular, according to market insiders, offers for SAE1006 HRC from India and Taiwan have been heard at around $640/mt CFR, while indicative prices for ex-Japan HRC have been voiced at $650/mt CFR.
Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has dropped to $590-595/mt CFR, from $610-615/mt CFR at the beginning of last week, given the aggressive offers coming from China.
At the same time, considering the extremely low domestic demand, Vietnamese HRC producers have been actively expanding their sales overseas. In particular, according to sources, a sizable batch of ex-Vietnam HRC was sold to southern Europe at €620/mt CFR last week, which translates to around $672/mt CFR, or around $620/mt FOB.