The situation in Vietnam’s import hot rolled coil (HRC) market has not improved over the past week with the focus being on negotiations with local sellers and some Chinese traders who have kept offering position cargoes at the lowest level among all foreign suppliers. Meanwhile, other foreign suppliers have resisted any drop in price and have continued to keep their prices at high levels. Furthermore, overall bids and the mood of Vietnamese customers have remained weak so far.
Accordingly, only a few position cargoes for ex-China SS400 HRC have been sold at the beginning of this week by traders at $820/mt CFR Vietnam for April shipment. Nevertheless, while most ex-China offers are currently coming at $820/mt CFR, customers’ bids decreased to $810/mt CFR and below levels. Meanwhile, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been heard at $850-860/mt CFR Vietnam this week. “Not only bids for Chinese SS400 HRC have been voiced at $810/mt CFR, but also for SAE1006 HRC for May shipment. However, SAE1006 HRC is still offered at $860/mt by some Chinese mills,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Meanwhile, the latest offer levels from Indian mills have been reported at $910-920/mt CFR, the same as last week, being totally out of the range of buyers’ interest. “The local Indian HRC price is at about $885/mt, but Indian exporters keep their prices at very high levels for Vietnam as they prefer other markets,” a market insider stated.
Suppliers from Japan have also been focused on other markets. In particular, several deals for Japanese coils have been reported in Pakistan during the past weeks at $900/mt CFR. “The Japanese price is simply not workable, and they have not given a new offer price this week. The latest price was at $950/mt CFR Vietnam last week,” a representative of a Vietnamese mill told SteelOrbis.
“This week is very slow, and we do not expect any sharp growth in business activity next week either as prices are too high, while the global economy is very sensitive now,” a Vietnam-based trader stated.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC remains unchanged at $840-850/mt CFR, considering the unclear market situation amid the lack of new import deals.
