On March 15, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel announced its new local prices for HRC for shipments in May, hiking them by $32/mt month on month. The more bullish views of Chinese and other HRC suppliers seen in March have supported the producer’s move, though most market insiders believe that the new prices are too high for local buyers so far.
Formosa Ha Ting has increased its offers for non-skin passed SAE1006 HRC and SS400 HRC to local customers to $727/mt CFR, up by $32/mt month on month. Skin-passed SAE1006 HRC coils have increased for May at $732/mt CFR, versus $700/mt CFR last month. “Most Vietnamese customers were expecting an increase up to $730/mt CFR, though Chinese materials are more competitive for now,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Although bullishness has been mounting in the Vietnamese HRC impot market, prices for HRC from Formosa are higher than Chinese prices, but are more competitive than offers from other suppliers. In particular, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have settled at $690-710/mt CFR, versus $690/mt CFR last week, while offers for SS400 HRC have been voiced at $670-675/mt CFR, up by $10-15/mt week on week. Indicative offers for ex-India SAE100t6 HRC have been voiced at $735/mt CFR and above, while offers from Japan and Taiwan have been estimated by Vietnamese buyers at $750/mt CFR, the same as last week.
