Major Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has started to announce its new HRC prices for the local market, increasing them by $22-26/mt compared to September, even slightly less than had been expected by some market sources, since, despite the new ex-China HRC prices hikes, sentiment has been rather uncertain over the future price trend in China.
FHS’s new offers for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC in the local market for December shipment mainly are reported at $540-550/mt CIF, up by $22-26/mt from last month. Skin-passed SAE1006 HRC has been offered at around $545-555/mt CIF, up by around $25/mt month on month. Meanwhile, according to sources, although Formosa officially refuses any discounts for larger volumes, market insiders have heard offers at $535/mt CIF for big customers.
At the same time, the rise in the prices from Formosa had been expected by market sources, though they were expecting even slightly higher prices given the extremely aggressive prices in China and the new HRC offers announced last week from another local producer Hoa Phat Group at $550/mt CIF. The latest offers for ex-China Q235/SS400 HRC have been voiced $550-555/mt CFR, up by $10/mt over the past week, though market insiders reported bids are still at around $535-540/mt CFR levels. No firm offers have been heard for ex-China SAE1006 HRC, but indicative prices are estimated at around $570/mt CFR, up by $20/mt since last week.
“If we do not see some new stimulus packages from the Chinese government in the next few days, then the market may find it hard to sustain the prices it achieved in last few days,” a Vietnamese trader told SteelOrbis.