Though overall sentiment has not improved much in the Vietnamese import HRC market over the past week, more sales have been reported as exporters have been trying to push volumes in the export market. For instance, ex-CIS sellers have decided to resume negotiations in Vietnam at the prices, close to these desired by customers earlier.
As a result, a few cargoes of ex-CIS HRC, which totaled up to 100,000 mt, have been sold to Vietnam recently. The price level has been reported at $850/mt CFR, but some sources said that the sales have included both SAE1006 and SS400 coils and it is possible that some HRC out of the total tonnage have been traded at a bit higher level.
“Buyers targeted $860/mt CFR and below [for Russian coils in earlier part of September], and now they got it,” a local trader from Vietnam said. Two weeks ago, the above-mentioned seller was not ready to go much below $880/mt CFR in Vietnam.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, Russian mills have faced lower demand and prices in the local market and also poor sales in their traditional markets, like Turkey. So they have been looking for sales to Asia. In particular, the producer, who sold this sizable tonnage of 100,000 mt to Vietnam recently, managed to trade 70,000 mt to Bangladesh, at least 20,000 mt to Pakistan and 30,000 mt to Taiwan earlier this month.
Ex-CIS HRC prices have been the most attractive in Vietnam recently. Indian mills have been still asking for $890-900/mt CFR. Though rumors about deals for 60,000 mt of ex-Indian coils at $890-895/mt CFR were spread in the market last week, this could not be finally confirmed by now. “I believe that it was done, but the tonnage is exaggerated,” one of the local sources in Vietnam said.
The lowest offers from small mills from China have been coming at $910/mt CFR, out of interest of Vietnamese buyers.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has been lowered to $850-890/mt CFR with the midpoint at $870/mt CFR, down by $15/mt on average from $880-890/mt CFR late last week.