Despite the still very questionable revival of HRC demand in Vietnam, import prices in the country have continued to rise. Moreover, some small deals have been reported at the higher level, taking into account that overall number of offers in the market has been much lower, SteelOrbis has learned on December 12.
New offers for SAE1006 HRC from China have started to come to Vietnam today at $610-620/mt CFR, moving up by $20/mt from $590-600/mt CFR reported just last Thursday, December 8. Moreover, some small-volume deals have already been done at $600/mt CFR, according to market sources. “A rumor is that it comes from China since Japan and Taiwan have stopped offering. So, we can only look at India and China now,” a local trader said.
“Most customers can accept below $600/mt CFR,” another source said, adding that the bullish policy of Chinese suppliers causes buyers to remain cautious.
Negotiations with Indian HRC suppliers are expected to start this week at around $580-600/mt CFR. Some market sources still believe that many customers will target not above $570/mt CFR, as fundamentals such as consumption are still weak.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has increased from $570-590/mt CFR to $580-600/mt CFR early this week, while the price could be corrected later this week when more suppliers will return with new prices.
