On November 17, Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel has announced new local HRC prices for January deliveries at a level $43-45/mt below last month’s prices given the decrease of tradable import HRC prices over the past month. Meanwhile, the producer has been active in overseas sales given the significant decrease in domestic demand in Vietnam.
Formosa Ha Tinh’s prices for re-rolling grade SAE1006 HRC (non skin-passed) to local customers have been voiced at $550/mt CFR, down by $43/mt from the previous month, while for skin-passes SAE1006 coils the price level has dropped by $45/mt to $555/mt CFR. The decision to cut prices came after the drop in import HRC prices seen over the past month.
At the same time, according to market insiders, Formosa’s new offers are considered to be “quite competitive” compared to import offers, which have been increasing during the last two weeks. In particular, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at $550-560/mt CFR, compared to $535-545/mt CFR last week and up by $20-30/mt over the past two weeks. The same price levels have been reported for ex-Taiwan materials, while offers for ex-Japan HRC have settled at $560-570/mt CFR.
Meanwhile, given the weak consumption in Vietnam, HRC exports from Vietnam have been rebounding. In particular, market insiders have reported a deal for around 40,000-50,000/mt of ex-Vietnam HRC from Formosa signed with Indian suppliers at around $515/mt FOB (around $550/mt CFR), following a deal for 5,000/mt signed at $595/mt CFR two weeks ago. Another deal for around 20,000/mt of HRC has been reported in southern Europe, Italy specifically, at $520/mt FOB (around €560-570/mt CFR). Besides, at the end of last week, a Pakistani buyer bought around 10,000/mt of ex-Formosa HRC at $560/mt CFR through a Chinese trader.
