On June 12, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel announced new local HRC prices for August shipment, increasing them slightly for small-batch orders, but sustaining them at mainly the same levels as in late May for big tonnages. However, according to sources, prices from Formosa are still higher than the more competitive offers coming from China.
More specifically, Formosa Ha Tinh’s prices for re-rolling non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC to local customers have been voiced at $580-600/mt CFR, depending on the size of orders, compared to $580-583/mt CFR reported in late May and versus $620-623/mt CFR reported in mid-May. In particular, the lower end of the range corresponds to big HRC orders for 20,000 mt and above, while small orders for below 500 mt are at $600/mt CFR. At the same time, the prices for batches between 4,999-19,999 mt are at $583-589/mt CFR.
“I think most people can negotiate and reach $580/mt CFR in the end, as import prices, especially from China are still rather competitive and Vietnam is not ready to overpay,” a local trader told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, most offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been voiced at $545-550/mt CFR, the same as at the end of last week. “Yesterday I received an offer for 1,000 mt of ex-China SS400 HRC at $545/mt CFR for shipment on August 10,” a Vietnamese trader said. Meanwhile, indicative offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have remained at $565-575/mt CFR.
Offers from other suppliers have remained rare in Vietnam, though, market insiders have been estimating indicative offers for ex-Japan and ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC at around $570-580/mt CFR.
Thus, SteelOrbis’ reference prices for import SAE1006 HRC have settled at $570/mt CFR, the same as at the end of last week.
At the same time, considering low domestic demand in Vietnam, Vietnamese HRC producers have been actively expanding their sales overseas. In particular, the latest offers for ex-Vietnam HRC in southern Europe have been reported at around €580/mt CFR, which translates to around $625/mt CFR. However, according to a Formosa representative, most customers’ bids are at $560-570/mt FOB, which means around €565-575/mt CFR southern Europe.
