On July 19, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS) announced new local prices for HRC for September deliveries at the level $60/mt below last month as demand is much lower at the moment in Vietnam due to falling consumption in the major end users industries because of the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the recent fall, prices from Formosa are still high for some customers and import prices from India and Russia are staying competitive.
Formosa Ha Tinh’s prices for rerolling grade SAE1006 HRC (non-skin passed) to local customers have been settled at the level of $970/mt CFR this month, down by $60-65/mt from $1,030-1,035/mt CFR for the last two months. Offers for SS400 are at $965/mt CFR.
“ASEAN is getting worse day by day. Vietnam’s domestic demand is very weak now due to Covid-19. Vietnam has 5,000-6,000 infected cases per day, very serious,” a local trader said.
At the same time, there are still competitive offers for rerolling grade HRC from India to Vietnam at $930-940/mt CFR after last deals signed at $920-925/mt CFR last week. There are bids for ex-Russia coils at $890/mt CFR. As SteelOrbis reported last week, 30,000 mt of ex-Russia HRC were booked at $890-900/mt CFR for September shipment, but some sources believe that the final volume was higher.
Offers of Chinese mills are not so attractive in Vietnam as some producers have increased official offers to $1,000/mt FOB.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam stays at $895-930/mt CFR so far, stable from last week.