Prices of imported HRC in Vietnam have continued to follow an uptrend this week with most deals concluded for ex-China and ex-Japan material, while Indian suppliers have increased their offers very rapidly and theirs prices have become among the highest in the market.
Deals for SAE1006 HRC have been done mostly at $520-530/mt CFR late this week, up $15/mt compared to last week. Early this week, a few small cargoes of about 10,000 mt each were traded at $515-518/mt CFR Vietnam for ex-China SAE HRC. At the same time, customers have been seeking cargoes and some of them have increased their bids up to $520/mt CFR late this week and some China-origin HRC has been sold at this level.
Moreover, in total about 50,000 mt of ex-Japan HRC SAE1006 have been purchased in Vietnam at $525-530/mt CFR. This means that sellers have reached the desired level which they announced two weeks ago. February production HRC volumes in Japan will be limited due to regular repairs at one of the major mills, and so the allocation for the export market is limited. Offers from South Korea and Taiwan to Vietnam have been also coming at $530/mt CFR.
Indian mills have increased their HRC offers to $530-535/mt CFR Vietnam for March shipment, with only small discounts possible. According to sources, the latest deals for ex-India HRC from producers were at $515/mt CFR Vietnam a week ago or even earlier. But “export allocation will be much lower in the next two to three months. The domestic market is much better. We don’t need to focus on sales of large quantities to Vietnam,” an official at an Indian mill said.