On October 18, major Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh announced its domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) prices for December shipment, cutting them by another $20/mt compared to last month’s level. This move had been expected due to the continuous fall of import prices in Vietnam.
The mill’s prices for SAE1006 grade skin-passed HRC came to $460/mt CFR, its offers for HRC which has not been skin-passed have dropped to $455/mt CFR, and its prices for SS400 grade HRC have been reduced to $450/mt CFR. Offers for SPHT3, S235JR, SG255, SS490 grades coils are at $480/mt CFR. The decline in December shipment HRC prices is lower compared to the $51/mt drop seen last month.
Import prices in Vietnam have lost about $25-30/mt over the past month, according to SteelOrbis’ information. This week offers from India and Russia have been coming at $420-425/mt CFR for December shipment, while a deal has been closed at $418/mt CFR. Moreover, Russian mills have announced even lower prices for January shipment HRC, at $410/mt CFR for big coils, according to Vietnamese sources.