Although ex-China HRC futures prices have been showing some improvement during the past two days, and some Chinese HRC exporters are reported to have raised their HRC offers for Vietnamese buyers, the general mood has remained negative in Vietnam, with no buyer ready to accept any hike so far. Thus, by Wednesday, October 25, local producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has revised its offers downwards for domestic customers following the initial announcement back on October 19.
More specifically, FHS has decided to revise its offers, decreasing them by around $20/mt to $555-560/mt CIF for re-rolling skin-passed and non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC for December-January shipment. “Although some signs of improvement have appeared in China with futures prices growth, nobody is ready to accept higher offers, while local customers keep pushing for discounts,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, the import HRC market in Vietnam has been lacking clarity this week. Notably, following ex-China offers for Q195 and SS400 HRC at $515/mt CFR on Monday, by Wednesday most offers for December shipment materials have been voiced at $527-530/mt CFR, against $520-525/mt CFR yesterday. At the same time, while some occasional deals for around 5,000-10,000 mt in total, have been reported this week by Vietnamese pipe makers for Q195 and SS400 materials at $520/mt CFR, import trade has been close to zero in the SAE1006 HRC segment, with the reference price remaining at $550-560/mt CFR, the same as last week. Offers for ex-Japan and ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC have been estimated at $580/mt CFR, unchanged over the past week.