Major suppliers of hot rolled coils (HRC) to Vietnam have stopped giving discounts this week and have even announced slightly higher offers for some customers. Moreover, traders have become more cautious about selling, which is also a sign that a price rebound is expected.
Ex-India HRC offers have been heard at $415-420/mt CFR Vietnam, while some sales by traders were heard at $408-410/mt CFR last week. Moreover, Indian mills “don’t want to sell below $420/mt CFR and have started to offer at up to $425/mt CFR,” an international trader said.
There have been no offers from Russia this week to Vietnam as suppliers are planning to come back with higher offers next week. Taking into account the attempts of CIS-based suppliers to increase offers to Turkey, the new offers from Russia will come to Vietnam at $420/mt CFR at least, for January shipment.
Offers from South Korea and Japan have been heard at $420-430/mt CFR Vietnam this week, but most sources said that producers in these countries will not remain aggressive in the export market for long. South Korea-based POSCO has been actively selling HRC abroad as it is in a hurry to close sales for this year, sources said. Some Japanese mills will have some maintenance works soon, and so their allocation is expected to be reduced.
At the same time, demand has remained limited in Vietnam as customers have been evaluating the recent movements. “We cannot see an uptrend at the moment,” a Vietnamese re-roller told SteelOrbis. However, bids have been mostly at $400-405/mt CFR last week, but the tradable level is closer to $415/mt CFR at the moment.