A new higher deal price level has been disclosed in the Vietnamese HRC import market on Monday, August 31. The further hike is connected with high offers from the majority of suppliers and no availability of cheaper cargoes at the moment. At the same time, a number of sources have been assessing the recent prices as too high and many buyers have been holding a wait-and-see position, not willing to accept such a price level.
A contract for 10,000 mt of SAE1006 HRC from a major Indian mill has been done at $529/mt CFR Vietnam, while the latest sale for almost the same volume was reported at $520/mt CFR late last week. Another fresh small-volume booking has been reported at $525/mt CFR to Vietnam. Sources said that this new price has been fixed in a deal, because there were no offers at below $530/mt CFR and Indian mills have been preparing to increase local prices for September, and, as a result, they have been not ready to provide any visible discounts to foreign buyers.
If someone in Vietnam needs to buy, the tradable level should be at $525-530/mt CFR, a few traders believe. But another section of market participants said that they are not seeing the market at above $518-520/mt CFR at the moment.
The recent increase in HRC prices in China is supporting the bullish sentiment in the Vietnamese market. Today, export offers from Chinese mills have added $5/mt on average since Friday to $515-535/mt FOB, supported by the local gains. The average domestic HRC price has reached RMB 4,010/mt ew-warehouse, up by RMB 30/mt ($4.3/mt) over the weekend. HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange have increased by RMB 66/mt ($9.6/mt) since Friday to RMB 4,011/mt, reacting to news of some production limitations in the northern part of China.
The SteelOrbis reference price for HRC in Vietnam has increased from $520/mt CFR to $524-527/mt CFR, taking into account most bids, offers and the latest deal.
