Although no significant signs of a demand recovery have been seen in Vietnam’s HRC import market this week and trade for flats products in the main destinations overseas has remained slow, quite a big rebound has been seen in import prices from Chinese suppliers since the beginning of this week supported by the recovery of HRC futures prices. However, for now the uptrend in Vietnam is shaky and market insiders believe that Chinese HRC suppliers may push their offers up further to secure deals at higher prices before the upcoming long holiday (October 1-7), while further upward movement after the holiday is doubtful.
More specifically, as of Wednesday, September 25, offers for ex-China Q235/SS400 HRC have increased to $480-482/mt CFR for November shipment, against $475/mt CFR yesterday, and up by $12-15/mt since the end of last week. “Today’s bids have been heard at $475/mt CFR, while on Monday they [bids] were as low as $458/mt CFR,” a Vietnamese trader told SteelOrbis, adding, “The last bookings were reported at $465/mt CFR at the end of last week.”
Meanwhile, the SteelOrbis reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has moved to $495-500/mt CFR, from $480-485/mt CFR last week based on offers from China, while other foreign suppliers have been refraining from giving offers to Vietnam, with only occasional offers for ex-Japan HRC heard at around $510-520/mt CFR.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, after the US announced an interest rate cut of 50 basis points, the People’s Bank of China announced this week that it will cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for Chinese banks by 0.5 percentage points in the near future, which has exerted a positive impact on HRC prices. As of September 25, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,306/mt ($471/mt), increasing by RMB 110/mt ($16/mt) or 3.4 percent since September 18, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
