A few low-priced deals for ex-China HRC have been rumored by the end of this week and, even though the local Chinese market has remained under pressure from weak demand, very low levels have been not confirmed by the major mills, which kept their prices stable.
A deal for 50,000 mt of Chinese Q195 has been rumored at $470-475/mt FOB for Pakistan. All major Chinese traders and a few mills agree that this price does not reflect the current market. “It is either non-VAT - this is too risky, especially for such a big volume - or some trader is going crazy,” one of the large traders commented. “I didn't see anything below $485/mt FOB for normal business, and I don't know who will take the risks with most ports having checked for non-VAT,” another Chinese source said.
This price translates to $500/mt CFR at the highest for Pakistan's import market and sources in the import market have said that even $510/mt CFR for Q195 is pretty low and they have not heard such low levels available this week. Moreover, for SS400, some offers have been heard at still higher levels, at $515-520/mt CFR.
Most large mills from China have been offering at $500/mt FOB and $505/mt FOB maximum, while small mills and traders have kept offers at $485-487/mt FOB.
In Vietnam, after a number of deals done at $515-520/mt CFR over the past ten days for Indian and Indonesian SS400/SAE1006 HRC, sellers have become more cautious.
In the import HRC segment for Chinese material in Vietnam, 15,000 mt of Q195 is rumoured to have been sold at $496/mt CFR, down by $1/mt from the previous contract for this grade. “This price is reasonable for Chinese Q195 in Vietnam, as buyers there will not buy too high,” a trading source said.
The price of Chinese SPHC 1 mm pickled and oiled coils has lost $5/mt over the past week to $555/mt CFR in Vietnam. A few deals for small volumes are reported to have been done at this level for southern ports.
