The situation in the Vietnamese HRC market has continued to be bearish this week with buyers signing deals at lower levels with Chinese suppliers and with overall expectations of further drops persisting.
Accordingly, offers for SAE1006 HRC from Chinese suppliers have decreased to $755-770/mt CFR, down by $15-20/mt since the beginning of this week and down by $20-25/mt over the past week. “This week, a few small contracts for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been signed at $760/mt CFR Vietnam, but now we expect the workable level to drop to $740-750/mt CFR,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Furthermore, after a few deals for ex-China SS400 HRC were reportedly signed at $740-742/mt CFR Vietnam at the beginning of the week, the material has changed hands at $730/mt CFR, according to sources. Most position offers from Chinese traders for SS400 coils have been voiced at $730-740/mt CFR, but customers’ bids have already been voiced at $720/mt CFR this week.
Chinese prices have continued to decrease despite the 15 percent duty on Indian HRC, due to ongoing Covid-19 restriction measures in many regions of China and rainy weather, which have dragged down demand and prices locally. In particular, on Thursday, May 26, domestic prices for ex-China SS400 HRC have fallen by RMB 70-130/mt ($10-19/mt) compared to May 23 to RMB 4,770-4,880/mt ($709-725/mt) ex-warehouse, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
Meanwhile, Indian HRC suppliers have not come with new offers to Vietnam this week. “There are no offers from India due to the 15 percent duty imposed on Indian HRC recently,” a Vietnam-based trader told. The latest offers for ex-India coils were at $810-840/mt CFR Vietnam last week. Other foreign suppliers like those from Japan and Taiwan have continued to stay out of the Vietnamese market. However, according to market insiders, an indicative offer for Russian HRC has emerged again in Vietnam at $700/mt CFR, but no deals or actual negotiations have been heard so far.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for import SAE1006 has moved to $755-760/mt CFR, compared to $780-790/mt CFR last week, considering the recent deals signed with Chinese suppliers and the continuous drop in offers coming from China.