More deals for imported HRC, done last week and early this week, in Vietnam have been disclosed recently. Some limitation of allocation still exists in the market, but buyers have become a little more cautious, seeing a sharp drop in futures prices and lower domestic prices in China.
According to sources, around 35,000 mt in total of Russian HRC have been traded at close to $530/mt CFR Vietnam since last week. Also, 10,000 mt of Chinese SAE1008 HRC not above 2 mm thickness was sold at slightly above $540/mt CFR last week. After the recent sales at $537-540/mt CFR to Vietnam, Indian sellers have been preparing to increase prices to $550-560/mt CFR and not many offers have been heard recently.
At the same time, the price drop in China has led to a bit lower bid prices from Vietnamese importers lately. For instance, bid prices for Chinese HRC have all been at $535/mt CFR and below, while the previously reported deals have been closed at $535-542/mt CFR. Offers from some mills from China have been heard at $545-550/mt CFR recently.
Average domestic HRC prices in China have lost RMB 60/mt ($9/mt) over the past week to RMB 3,965/mt ex-warehouse for now. As of September 9, HRC futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,752/mt ($548.5/mt), decreasing sharply by RMB 182/mt ($26.6/mt) since September 2.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported HRC in Vietnam is marginally down from $537-540/mt CFR reported yesterday, September 8, to $535-540/mt CFR.
