Major Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh has announced stable HRC prices for April shipments even despite the downtrend seen in the import market in February due to aggressive offers from China. The move of the manufacturer has led to some improvement in overall sentiments in the market, which have been very weak in the first half of February.
Formosa’s prices for SAE1006 grade skin-passed and not skin-passed HRC are unchanged at $520/mt CFR and $515/mt CFR respectively. Offers for SS400 grade HRC have stayed at $510/mt CFR, while prices for SPHT3, S235JR, SG255 and SS490 grade coils have remained at $540/mt CFR. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, last month Formosa Ha Tinh had increased prices by $35/mt for March delivery HRC.
“There were no mills dropping prices. Except China, demand from all other countries [in Asia] was actually increasing. Indian local prices improved. I hope this news will give confidence to the market,” one company’s representative told SteelOrbis. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, steel producers from South Korea and Taiwan have been not ready to drop prices for Vietnamese customers. The latest offers have been heard at $505-510/mt CFR Vietnam at the lowest, according to the sources. In contrast, offers for Chinese SAE1006 have been at $470-480/mt CFR Vietnam: moreover, offers for ex-China SS400 coils and strip are still at $465/mt CFR Vietnam on average.
