After offers for HRC in Vietnam increased sharply after the holiday, by the end of the current week a number of traders have been offered position cargoes at much lower levels. As a result, Vietnamese buyers have purchased Indian and Chinese HRC and the price gap between traders’ position HRC prices and prices from major mills from China, India and other countries has increased significantly. Nevertheless, the future market direction is still positive considering the recovery in futures prices in China and the bullish mood of the main HRC exporters.
A deal for around 5,000-10,000 mt of ex-India SAE1006 HRC has been reported at $815-20/mt CFR Vietnam through traders who were liquidating their positions of unsold material from before the Chinese New Year holiday. "You cannot just keep waiting for higher prices. A cargo may be ready to ship anytime," a market source told SteelOrbis. Another contract for a position cargo from China has been reported at around $825/mt CFR. Besides, market insiders are discussing a deal for ex-Indonesia HRC signed at $830-840/mt CFR Vietnam on a no-claim basis. However, this was not confirmed by the time of publication. “I know a cargo of Indonesian HRC is available but I am not sure if it was finally sold to Vietnam. I heard it was offered in Pakistan and Egypt,” an international trader said.
In the meantime, offers from Chinese suppliers for April shipment HRC have been voiced at $840-860/mt CFR. Besides, earlier this week, a cargo of 20,000 mt of ex-China SS400 HRC was sold at around $840/mt CFR for April shipment. “We heard Chinese mills, like Benxi and Shagang, will increase export offer prices sharply next Monday and Tuesday,” a China-based trader told SteelOrbis. Offers from Indian mills for SAE1006 HRC have been reported at $870/mt CFR and above, while material from traders mainly for April shipment has been available at $840-850/mt CFR this week.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has come to $840-850/mt CFR, up by $40/mt from last week, as the lowest prices from traders are not included in the reference price, considering that these deals were done in positions and for prompt shipments.