On August 14, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel announced its new local prices for HRC for shipments in the September-October period, hiking them by $15-32/mt month on month. The new prices have been estimated by most market participants as being too high for most local buyers, while the gap between local and import offers has reached around $45/mt for SAE1006 HRC and above $60/mt for SS400 HRC given the offers for ex-China materials from traders.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel has settled its offers for non-skin-passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC to local customers to $622-625/mt CIF, versus $590-610/mt CIF last month, while skin-passed SAE1006 HRC have been priced for September and October at $627-630/mt CIF, compared to $595-615/mt CIF announced back in mid-July.
“It doesn’t make any sense when ex-China SAE1006 HRC is still offered by traders at $580/mt CFR, while deals for SS400 HRC were heard at $555/mt CFR a few days ago,” a Vietnamese trader told SteelOrbis.
“In the end, Formosa’s official price and real contract price always differs from customer to customer, but with such high offers we can understand that their allocations a low, while their focus in on exports,” another source said, adding that “in late August and early September Europe will wake up from its summer lull and trade will revive.”
For now, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam is $580/mt CFR, the same as last week, based mainly on the most competitive Chinese offers, while other suppliers have been staying out of the market, with indicative offers at $600/mt CFR and above from Japan and Taiwan.