On February 23, local Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) announced its new HRC prices for domestic customers, having delayed its announcement by around one week amid the Lunar New Year celebrations in Vietnam. The new offers have been revised downwards, as expected by most market insiders, standing in line with the offers of the other Vietnamese producer Hoa Phat Group and given the bearishness mounting among Chinese HRC suppliers.
More specifically, FHS’s prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC in the local market for April-May shipments have decreased significantly by $39-50/mt month on month to $608-615/mt CIF. Meanwhile, skin-passed SA1006 coils prices have settled at $613-630/mt CIF, moving down strongly from $652-670/mt CIF in January.
The new prices from FHS are line with Hoa Phat’s offers announced on February 1 at $610-615/mt CIF for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC. Besides, the decision to decrease prices was expected as most traders have lost confidence, seeing no signs of a Chinese market recovery after the long Lunar New Year holiday. The latest offers for ex-China SS400 HRC have been estimated at $560-565/mt CFR, down by $5/mt as compared to offers before the holiday. At the same time, several deals for ex-China Q235 HRC have been reported at $550-555/mt CFR, against deal prices at $554-556/mt CFR two weeks ago, while most offers for Q195/Q235 HRC have settled at $550/mt CFR and slightly below, down by $5/mt over the period under review.
In the meantime, firm offers for SAE1006 HRC have remained rare in Vietnam this week, with only a few offers from big Chinese mills reported at $600-605/mt CFR for April shipment, while offers from smaller mills and traders have been estimated at $590-595/mt CFR, the same as two weeks ago.
