After returning from the long Chinese New Year holiday, Vietnam’s HRC import market has faced another drop in prices from China given the negative sentiments mounting in the local and futures markets in the country.
Specifically, offers for ex-China SS400 HRC in Vietnam have been estimated at around $560-565/mt CFR, down by $5/mt as compared to offers before the holiday. At the same time, several deals for ex-China Q235 HRC have been reported at $550-555/mt CFR, against deal prices at $554-556/mt CFR two weeks ago, while most offers for Q195/Q235 HRC have settled at $550/mt CFR and slightly lower, down by $5/mt over the period under review.
In the meantime, firm offers for SAE1006 HRC have remained rare in Vietnam this week, with only a few offers from big Chinese mills reported at $600-605/mt CFR for April shipment, while offers from smaller mills and traders have been estimated at $590-595/mt CFR, the same as two weeks ago. However, offers from one of the main Indian suppliers in Vietnam have been voiced at as high as $615-620/mt CFR, up by $10-20/mt since the beginning of the month.
Notably, as of February 21, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,916/mt ($551.5/mt), decreasing by RMB 52/mt ($7.3/mt) or 1.3 percent since February 7, but stable compared to the previous trading day (February 20).
“An import price drop was expected in Vietnam since Hoa Phat reduced its offers by around $30/mt in the previous round, but from March until May it is the building season in Vietnam, so we cannot expect too big a reduction in prices currently,” the representative of a Vietnamese mill told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has remained at $590-600/mt CFR, the same as two weeks ago since, although deal prices for pipe making SS400/Q235 HRC have been falling, no fresh deals have been reported for SAE1006 HRC so far.
