Following a slight recovery seen in Vietnam’s HRC import market last week, this week has brought firstly a drop and then again, some hike in prices amid fluctuations in China. At the same time, business activity has been rather limited, with only occasional deals reported at the beginning of the week with small discounts.
At the beginning of the week, offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been estimated at $570-575/mt CFR Vietnam, down $5/mt week on week, while several deals for Q195 HRC have been reported at $565/mt CFR, against $567-570/mt CFR last week. Several small deals for ex-China Q235 HRC have also been reported at $567/mt CFR. However, by Thursday, December 21, given the recovery in Chinese HRC futures, offers for ex-China HRC in Vietnam have shown some rises as well, reaching $570-575/mt CFR for Q195 HRC and around $580/mt CFR for SS400 HRC.
Similar situation has been happening in the SAE1006 HRC segment, where at the beginning of the week, several offers were reported at $585-590/mt CFR for mid-February shipment, against $590/mt CFR at the end of last week, while by Thursday, Vietnamese customers have estimated ex-China SAE1006 HRC offers at $590-595/mt CFR. Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price is now at $590-595/mt CFR, up by $5/mt on the lower end of range over the past week.
Notably, as of December 21, HRC futures prices at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 4,097/mt (577/mt), moving up by RMB 50/mt ($7/mt) or 1.23 percent compared to December 14.