The import hot rolled coil (HRC) market in Vietnam has stabilized this week after a long-standing downtrend as Indian suppliers have already sold significant volumes and have decided to take a break, while Chinese exporters have been seeing some price rebound in their local market. Offer prices for ex-India HRC of 2 mm thickness and above have been still coming mostly at $460-465/mt CFR this week. Some traders have been still testing the market, offering cheaper position cargo at $455/mt CFR, but customers have been cautious about purchases, SteelOrbis has been informed.
Russian HRC has been offered at $465/mt CFR, just slightly lower than last week. Offers for Chinese HRC have been still heard at around $475/mt CFR.
However, some increase in activity has been seen for ex-Japan HRC. About 10,000 mt of Japanese SAE1006 coils have been sold to Vietnam at $470/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned. This level has been much lower than indicative prices for Japanese-origin coils at $485-490/mt CFR earlier. Such a decrease is connected with the slack demand from Vietnamese buyers for non-Indian HRC and the higher production of steel in Japan.
“Not a big increase but a slight rebound for the short-term in Vietnam could be expected. But there are so many short position cargoes,” a trader said, commenting on the possible further market development in September.