Prices for imported HRC in the Vietnamese market have increased in the latest deals and have exceeded $700/mt CFR amid very limited supply. Most customers have been resisting such a rapid uptrend, but those who in need to buy had no other choice but to accept higher prices. Even after the increase, the price level in Vietnam has been visibly lower than the current level in the US and the EU.
One deal for 5,000 mt of ex-China SAE1006 HRC has been done at $720/mt CFR, while another contract also for small volume has been reported at $725/mt CFR to Vietnam, SteelOrbis has learned. It is much above the previous deal signed at $700/mt CFR, which has been heard earlier this week and the price level of $680-700/mt CFR late last week.
At the moment, offers for SAE1006 HRC from China have been heard at $730-740/mt CFR, but bids from end-users have been still not above $700/mt CFR mainly.
According to one trading source, the price for HRC is not expected to drop much for April, May and June shipment coils due to a serious lack of supply. “HRC in the US reached above $1,000/mt ex-works, the EU can deal at above $750/mt CFR and they can absorb high prices,” a source said. According to sources, some tonnages of Vietnamese HRC have been sold to the EU market due to higher achievable prices.
“Last week, Vietnam mills received a rare small allocations of 3,000-5,000/mt from their suppliers, and sold out within 2-3 days,” a source said, adding that it has been a real challenge to find any offer of higher volume.
Though Indian mills have been focusing on the EU market and have had still limited allocation, one of them has managed to sell 30,000 mt of HRC to Vietnam at $740/mt CFR this week. Nevertheless, some sources said that the volume has been much smaller and such a price has been too high for most customers from one side and low for the supplier from the other side. The deal has been confirmed by a number of sources and India is expected to continue to sell to its regular buyer in Vietnam to maintain its market share.
Offers from Japan have been reported at $750/mt CFR and a deal has also been rumoured at this level, though this has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
It is expected that Formosa Ha Tinh will increase its offers in the local market to $735-740/mt CFR in early January.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported HRC in Vietnam has been increased by $32.5/mt on average since late last week to $720-725/mt CFR.
