Buying activity has been on the rise in the Vietnamese HRC market this week with more deals disclosed recently.
Around 30,000 mt of ex-Russia HRC, which will be shipped from Russia’s Far East region, have been traded at $510/mt CFR to Vietnam for January shipment, according to the sources in the Asian market. Moreover, there are reports that in total approximately 60,000 mt have been on offer, and so negotiations may continue. Also, 20,000 mt of HRC from ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan has been sold at the same price level. “Both are pipe-making grades, usually at a lower price than re-rolling material. Also, the delivery is far in the future, and so the price has to be discounted for buyers to accept,” a trader stated, sharing his opinion about this low price level for ex-CIS sales.
At the same time, a cargo produced by a major Chinese mill of 10,000 mt of re-rolling grade SAE1006 HRC has been sold to Vietnam at $430/mt CFR, also this week. This was higher by $5-10/mt from the previous deals for Chinese origin HRC reported earlier by SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis reference price level for imported HRC in Vietnam has been settled at $510-530/mt CFR, with $520/mt CFR as a mid-point.