Vietnamese steelmaker Formosa Ha Tinh has started to offer hot rolled coils (HRC) for August delivery, with its prices increasing by $20-25/mt from its offers for July. Higher import prices and firm demand were the major drivers for the move.
Formosa Ha Tinh has announced offers for SAE1006 grade skin-passed and not skin-passed HRC for its customers in Vietnam at $455-460/mt CFR and $450-455/mt CFR respectively. These levels are $20-25/mt above those announced last month. Prices for SS400 grade HRC for pipe makers reached $450-455/mt CFR.
However, similar to the situation last month, the real prices of HRC from Formosa Ha Tinh are $5-10/mt lower, taking into account discounts. To some Vietnamese re-rollers, offers for SAE1006 from Formosa Ha Tinh are at $445/mt CFR, $448/mt CFR and $455/mt CFR. “The market price from [from Formosa] is $450/mt,” a trader said. Formosa Ha Tinh changed its system of price announcement in April, starting to offer directly to customers and closing deals case by case, not having one price list for everyone.
The latest deal for Indian coils to Vietnam was reported at $445/mt CFR earlier this week. Also, last week ex-Taiwan HRC was sold at $450/mt CFR. There have been no reports of new deals in the market so far. Import HRC prices have increased by $5-10/mt over the past week.
