Vietnamese customers have been showing very limited interest in HRC imports over the past week even though more discounts have been provided by Chinese traders this week. Besides, the future price trend lacks clarity given the continuous fluctuations of ex-China HRC prices and the absence of other foreign suppliers, whose indicative offers have remained at above $720/mt CFR.
Accordingly, the prices available for ex-China position SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at $680-695/mt CFR, compared to $680-710/mt CFR last week, with bids standing at around $665-670/mt CFR, according to sources. At the same time, offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been heard at around $635-645/mt CFR, versus $635-650/mt CFR last week. However, several market insiders have reported purchasing a few batches of around 2,000 mt each at $625/mt CFR for May shipment at the beginning of this week. This means the deal prices have lost $5-10/mt week on week. “The contracts heard at such low levels have been done by Chinese traders who are avoiding Chinese taxes, not paying VAT tax,” a market insider said.
The decrease in ex-China HRC prices is mainly explained by the further drop in futures and local HRC prices. However, since the middle of this week, sentiments have started to improve with local prices showing a slight recovery by RMB 45/mt ($6.4/mt) on Friday, March 31, since Monday, March 27, following a RMB 67/mt ($10/mt) increase in HRC futures prices over the same period of time.
At the same time, other suppliers have continued to refrain from offers in Vietnam, with the indicative offers for HRC from Japan, Taiwan and India standing at around $730-740/mt CFR, same as last week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has remained at $680-685/mt CFR, the same as last week, given no deals were signed at new levels over the past week.