The situation in Vietnam’s import hot rolled coil (HRC) market has started to change this week following the more positive sentiments of Chinese suppliers caused by rises in futures prices in China. However, more ex-India offers for boron-added HRC have been heard in Vietnam at lower prices this week, and much talk about new deals at lower levels has been circulating in the market.
Accordingly, on Friday, June 24, Chinese traders sold a few position cargoes for SS400 HRC to Vietnam at $650-660/mt CFR, down by $10-15/mt compared to the previous deals. Subsequently, new Chinese offers have increased to $680-685/mt CFR Vietnam this week. Meanwhile, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been heard at $705-720/mt CFR, compared to $700-710/mt CFR last week. This increase was driven by the sharp growth in futures prices, up by RMB132/mt ($20/mt) since Friday, June 24. As a result, domestic HRC prices in China have increased as well, to RMB 4,405/mt ($658/mt) ex-warehouse, up by RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) on June 29, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
At the same time, suppliers from India have decreased their offers for boron-added coils to $695-710/mt CFR Vietnam, down by $5/mt over the past week. Besides, an eastern India-based mill reported a trade for 15,000 mt with a Vietnam based buyer for end-of-July delivery at around $710/mt CFR. Furthermore, according to market insiders, a deal for a sizable lot of at least 60,000 mt of Indian materials has been reported at $670-680/mt CFR. These deals have not been confirmed by the time of publication, though, according to sources, both contracts are “highly possible”.
Meanwhile, Russian HRC suppliers have announced their offers to Vietnamese buyers at $640/mt CFR for August shipment, down by $40/mt over the past weeks. However, despite the attractive price, no deals have been heard due to payment problems, according to sources.
“The issue is that Vietnam’s steel market is slow now and we cannot determine any expectation and forecast the bottom level. As soon as steel mills can estimate the market trend, there will be more deals in Vietnam,” a representative of a Vietnamese steel mill told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has moved to $675-710/mt CFR, compared to $700-710/mt CFR, considering lower offers coming from India in contrast to stronger sentiments in China.
