Following the announcement of Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel that it was lowering its HRC offers for domestic buyers by $64-67/mt on May 17, this week market insiders have reported lower HRC offers from Formosa given the pressure from cheaper import HRC. At the same time, given no visible signs of a domestic demand recovery in Vietnam, more export sales have been reported from Vietnam, this time to India in particular.
More specifically, Formosa’s Ha Tinh prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC to local customers have been voiced at $580-583/mt CIF for July shipment, versus $620-623/mt CIF announced two weeks ago. “Last week, we heard Formosa’s offers at around $589-590/mt CIF. However, now they are negotiating at $580-5893/mt CIF, as it was impossible to do deals at $620/mt CIF given offers from China and other suppliers,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Prices of imported HRC have remained mainly unchanged from China, though other suppliers have been more bearish this week. The prices for ex-China position SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at $562-570/mt CFR, the same as last week, while offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been heard at $530/mt CFR, with most bids reported at $525/mt CFR. However, other foreign suppliers have decided to go lower. In particular, offers for ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at $580/mt CFR, while offers from Japan have settled at $585-590/mt CFR, down by $5-15/mt week on week.
Offers from Indian suppliers have been rare in Vietnam, with indicative prices for SAE1006 HRC standing at $600/mt CFR, according to sources. However, while Vietnamese buyers have been reporting no interest in ex-India HRC, Indian buyers on the contrary have bought several batches of Vietnamese HRC this week. In particular, according to sources, around 30,000 mt of ex-Vietnam HRC are reported to have been sold through traders at $590-595/mt CFR India for July shipment, while new negotiations have already been reported at $580/mt CFR but for mid-August shipment.
The SteelOrbis’ reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam have settled at $560-580/mt CFR, versus $560-590/mt CFR last week, given stable offers from China and a slight drop in offers from other suppliers.