According to information received from the Vietnamese flat steel market, Chinese producers' offers to Vietnam for 3-12 mm HRC have this week been at $520-530/mt CFR Vietnam. Also, it is heard that Chinese traders are offering Russian origin HRC to Vietnam at $560/mt CFR Vietnam. In comparison, one month ago HRC import offers to Vietnam from the CIS and also from Vietnam's neighboring countries were at $590-610/mt CFR, while in the same period acceptable import offers to Vietnamese buyers were at $550-560/mt CFR.
Over the last two weeks ex-China HRC offers to Vietnam are observed to have fallen by $30/mt. Local market players with high stock levels are facing difficulties due to the aggressive Chinese offers. On the other hand, HRC imported into Vietnam through deals concluded in July and August is now being offered for reexport at $520-530/mt FOB. In July, in particular, there was intense import activity to Vietnam at an average of $510-540/mt CFR.
Due to the decline in FOB prices of ex-China HRC to $505-515/mt, some changes have occurred in market players' minds and in their approach to the market in general. Firstly, ex-CIS offers to the Southeast Asian markets are now far from being competitive. Meanwhile, the local market situation in the Philippines has been affected in a negative way by the current general mood. While HRC base prices in this country are at $630/mt ex-works on average, it is mentioned that the price level in question is $60/mt higher than the levels acceptable to buyers in the local market, and as such the price is not realistic. If Chinese HRC offers maintain their downward pressure on prices, it is expected that the ex-works price levels for HRC in the local Filipino market will likely decline by a further $30/mt in the near future.