Vietnamese customers have continued to show very limited interest in HRC imports over the past week and, although most import offers for SAE1006 HRC have remained unchanged, while SS400 HRC offers, mainly from China, have dropped further, bids have fallen even more. Negative expectations, lower finished steel consumption and high levels of stocks have been behind the trend.
Accordingly, the prices available for ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC have been reported at $590/mt CFR for October shipment, the same as last week. However, according to market sources, customers’ bids have already decreased to $570/mt CFR. Meanwhile, offers for ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC and ex-India boron-added coils have been heard at $600/mt CFR. At the same time, some traders have been ready to offer materials at below $600/mt CFR, but no deals have been reported so far.
Meanwhile, almost no offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been heard in Vietnam this week, with the indicative level standing at around $610-615/mt CFR, down by $10-15/mt week on week. However, Chinese traders have been active in offering SS400 HRC, which resulted in the signing of numerous deals. In particular, after a few lots of ex-China SS400 HRC were sold to Vietnam at $585-590/mt CFR at the beginning of last week, by the end of last week another deal for 10,000 mt was reported at $580-585/mt CFR. Furthermore, this week market insiders have reported new contracts for at least 15,000 mt in total at $570-575/mt CFR, for October shipment.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has moved to $590-595/mt CFR, compared to $590-605/mt CFR last week, considering that most Vietnamese customers have been refusing all offers above $595/mt CFR.