Following the slack business activity in Vietnam’s HRC import market last week due to the absence of Chinese suppliers due to their long holiday, this week has started with a decrease in ex-China HRC prices from traders. According to market insiders, despite quite a significant price drop, deals have been scarce so far, while bids from Vietnamese customers have been voiced at below $520/mt CFR for ex-China SS400/Q195 materials.
Offers for ex-China Q195 HRC in Vietnam have been voiced at $520/mt CFR, versus $525-530/mt yesterday and down by $10-20/mt over the past two weeks, while offers for SS400 HRC have been reported at $525-530/mt CFR, down by $15/mt. According to sources, yesterday, October 9, a deal for SS400 HRC was signed at $530/mt CFR Vietnam, though as of today most customers expect new deals to be signed at below $520/mt CFR. “Such low offers are obviously coming from non-VAT Chinese traders,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
As for SAE1006 HRC, offers have been extremely rare this week, with buyers estimating the tradable prices at $555-560/mt CFR, and so the reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC has lost $10-13/mt over the past week.
The decrease is explained by the drop in ex-China HRC futures prices which by Tuesday, October 10, have lost RMB 44/mt ($6.1/mt) or 1.2 percent since September 26, coming to RMB 3,715/mt ($517/mt).
At the same time, according to sources, while Chinese suppliers were on holidays last week, Vietnamese buyers have been focused on local sales, with more than 200,000 mt bought from local producer Hoa Phat Group. Besides, due to the changes in the exchange rate, Hoa Phat’s prices for SAE1006 and SS400 HRC for November shipment have lost $2-3/mt week on week to $570/mt CFR.
