Weak demand conditions have continued to prevail in the Vietnamese HRC market this week, with most buyers facing a slowdown of end-user industrial operations. The most competitive offers have been still coming from China, but customers prefer to focus on domestic sources for their urgent needs as the changes in China’s export policy are still awaited.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import HRC in Vietnam, showing the tradable level, has been reduced to $940-950/mt CFR with the midpoint at $945/mt CFR, down by $20/mt on average from last week. Market sources said that all suppliers’ attempts to improve prices or attract demand at $950/mt CFR and above have failed, and in the current weak market there are very few bids and buyers are looking for $920-930/mt CFR or below for SAE1006 import HRC.
Chinese traders have been offering position SAE1006 HRC at $940/mt CFR, with buyers staying away as they will need to bear potential risks of the expected 11 percent export tax. One trading source said that, even if the seller agrees to share the risks, the final price for Chinese HRC will be high - at $990/mt CFR and above.
Offers from large Chinese mills have come down by Friday to $990/mt CFR, down by $20/mt from the offer levels seen early this week.
Indian mills have not been interested in pushing HRC volumes to Vietnam at low prices, and have still been asking for $1,040-1,050/mt CFR.
