The situation in the Vietnamese HRC market has remained bearish this week with buyers postponing bookings, traders cutting offers and overall expectations regarding further declines persisting. Market participants are still waiting for the new prices from the major local HRC sellers, Formosa Ha Tinh, which are expected to be released during the weekend or on Monday.
Offers for SAE1006 from Chinese suppliers have been coming at $800-810/mt CFR for January shipment, while early this week this was the target level of buyers. Now customers are waiting for prices to retreat below the $800/mt CFR mark before signing deals. “I think the price will reach this level soon,” a local source said.
In addition, some traders, having a negative outlook, have been ready to provide $780-790/mt CFR for HRC for shipment in February and beyond, according to sources.
No fresh bookings have been confirmed after a contract at $810/mt CFR for January late last week. Local customers have been closely watching local prices, which should be announced very soon.
The local Chinese market has started to weaken again over the past few days, resulting in a week-on-week decline in the average price by RMB 40/mt ($6/mt) to RMB 4,765/mt ($748/mt) ex-warehouse on Friday, December 10, according to SteelOrbis. This has put additional pressure on sentiment in Vietnam’s import market.
The SteelOrbis reference price has been lowered again by the end of this week, to $800-805/mt CFR, down by $10-15/mt from the level seen on Monday.