A downtrend of prices has been persisting in Vietnam’s import HRC market in late December, as overall end-user sentiment has been under pressure from Covid-19 in the country, especially in the north. Also, buyers restocked with local materials earlier in the month and are still expecting prices to go down further.
One deal for 20,000 mt of SAE1006 HRC from one of the large Indian mills has been confirmed at $755/mt CFR to Vietnam. Last week, deals were done at $760-770/mt CFR, but mainly by the traders, not mills. “This is a bearish sign for the market in general as exporting mills need to sell,” a local source said. Another source said that, after a number of bookings last week, “it has been quite recently.”
While during most of last week, the majority of Indian mills were asking for $770-780/mt CFR, this week offers have come down to $760/mt CFR. Most market sources hold a bearish outlook for January, and so bids have been only at $750-755/mt CFR and they have been rare. Since last week, the Hanoi authorities canceled non-essential activities in some areas as the spread of Covid-19 infections increased.
For HRC of other origins, HRC prices have been too high for local customers. Ex-South Korea and ex-Japan indicative prices are still not below $830/mt CFR, but the tradable level has been closer to $800/mt CFR. “There is no chance [for Japanese suppliers] to sell to Vietnam, and so mills offer to other destinations,” a source said, such as the Middle East or other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia.
Chinese HRC prices are still not competitive, being not below $790/mt CFR for SAE1006. But the local Chinese market has also posted some weakening since late this week, which has been reflected in both local spot prices and futures, and so export prices may slip down further in January, market sources believe. “Prices may decrease continuously up to the Chinese New Year,” a source said.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has been lowered to $755/mt CFR, down by $20/mt from $770-780/mt CFR, as last week’s price was based on mills’ contract prices.