On November 15, major Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh announced its domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) prices for January delivery, increasing them by $10/mt compared to prices for December after the previous long-standing decline. Higher prices for imported coils and improved demand in Vietnam contributed to the trend reversal.
The mill’s prices for SAE1006 grade skin-passed and not skin-passed HRC reached $470/mt CFR and $465/mt CFR respectively. Its offers for SS400 grade HRC increased to $460/mt CFR. Prices for SPHT3, S235JR, SG255, SS490 grades coils are at $490/mt CFR. The decline in December delivery HRC prices by Formosa Ha Tinh was $20/mt, as SteelOrbis announced earlier.
Market participants expected higher offers from Formosa Ha Tinh following the higher deal prices registered for ex-India HRC this week. A few transactions have been made at $440-445/mt CFR for December shipment SAE 1008 coils with Indian suppliers this week, $10-20/mt above the contracts signed during last week.
Formosa Ha Tinh has decided not to increase prices sharply, because its offers were at higher levels compared to import prices previously, and the producer has decided to increase sales, seeing improved demand.