On May 11, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS) announced its new prices for local HRC for July deliveries. The increase has reached $120/mt this month so far, reflecting sharply rising import prices.
Formosa Ha Tinh’s prices for re-rolling grade SAE1006 HRC (non-skin passed) to local customers have surged to $1,030-1,035/mt CFR on average, up by $120/mt from April, SteelOrbis has learned from the market. Prices have differed from customer to customer and some of them have reached $1,038/mt CFR for non-skin passed SAE1006 HRC, and above $1,040/mt CFR for skin passed. Demand from local buyers has been assessed as very good, even after such a sharp rise. “We believe that Formosa will sell out its allocation within two days. The forecast indicates the HRC price can reach $1200/mt next month,” a Vietnamese trader said.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, in April the producer had hiked its prices by $145/mt.
Formosa will keep focusing mainly on local sales, with a limited export allocation, taking into account the healthy demand in Vietnam.
In the import market, early this week one of the major Indian producers managed to sell a SAE1006 HRC lot at $1,060/mt CFR, up by $40/mt compared to the previous deal from another Indian mill announced recently. “No one knows where the peak is and how steep the drop would be,” an Asian trader said.
No new trades have been reported from China to Vietnam so far, but major mills have already offered at $1,050/mt FOB and above for SAE1006 HRC.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import HRC in Vietnam has increased to $1,050-1,060/mt CFR today, surging by $40-50/mt from late last week.