The situation in the Vietnamese HRC market has continued to be bearish this week with buyers signing deals at lower levels and with overall expectations of further drops persisting.
Accordingly, following ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC offers announced at $620/mt CFR Vietnam at the beginning of the week, market insiders have reported two deals for around 35,000 mt in total of SAE1006 HRC from a Taiwanese mill signed at $603/mt CFR. Besides, another deal for around 10,000 mt of ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC is reported to have been signed through a trader at $590-595/mt CFR Vietnam. Current offers for ex-Taiwan coils have settled at $595/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, offers for SAE1006 HRC from Chinese traders have decreased to around $605-610/mt CFR, down by $20-25/mt since the beginning of the week. Though no deals have been reported so far, with bids staying at around $590-600/mt CFR levels. Offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been voiced at $580-590/mt CFR, down by $20-30/mt week on week. “I think there are no deals for ex-China coils because of more attractive ex-Taiwan materials. Buyers are refusing even 100 percent SAE1006 2 mm HRC,” a Vietnamese trader told SteelOrbis.
In the meantime, Indian offers for boron-added materials have been heard at $600/mt CFR, compared to $610-620/mt at the beginning of the week, while SAE1006 HRC offers from Japan have settled at around $620/mt CFR, compared to $630/mt CFR on Monday and down by $20/mt week on week.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has settled at $590-605/mt CFR, down by $10-25/mt from $600-630/mt CFR on Wednesday, August 17 and down $20-35/mt from $610-640/mt CFR last week.