Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS) has raised its local HRC prices in Vietnam by $11-12/mt from August, following a similar move by Hoa Phat last week. The producer, however, has kept the increase modest amid growing competition from other Asian suppliers, from Japanese, Indonesian and Malaysian SAE-grade HRC in particular, amid a slowdown in Chinese shipments due to antidumping duty.
On September 10, FHS announced its new prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC in the local market at $519/mt CIF, for orders for a minimum of 20,000 mt, up by $12/mt compared to the level seen in August. For 10,000-20,000 mt orders, the price has settled at $522/mt CIF, versus $510/mt CIF before. For smaller volumes of 5,000-10,000 mt, 2,000-5,000 mt and below 2,000 mt of HRC, the buyers will have to pay $524/mt CIF, $526/mt CIF and $528/mt CIF, respectively. All prices are for October-November shipments.
The current prices from Formosa for the local market for large volumes are around $8-9/mt lower than those from the other major Vietnamese producer Hoa Phat Group ($527-528/mt CIF).
As for the import market in Vietnam, following a deal for 20,000 mt of ex-China Q235 HRC 2,000 mm, which is not subject to antidumping duty, at $492/mt CFR last week, this week most bids have dropped to $490/mt CFR, while offers have settled at $493-500/mt CFR, depending on the supplier, up by $4/mt on the higher end of the range since the end of last week.
Offers from Indonesia for SAE1006 HRC, 3,000 mm, have been heard at $495-500/mt CFR for November shipment, mainly the same as last week, while offer prices for ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC 1,200 mm stand at around $515-520/mt CFR, the same as last week. Besides, offers for SAE1006 HRC from Malaysia have been voiced at $500-505/mt CFR, for November shipment.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has remained at the same level as last week at $500-505/mt CFR.