Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS) has today, April 12, announced its new prices for local HRC for June deliveries. The increase in price is $145/mt this time as the mill has been taking into account the sharply rising prices for Chinese and Indian coils and the positive demand conditions.
Formosa Ha Tinh’s offers for re-rolling grade SAE1006 HRC (non-skin passed) to local customers have surged to $910-915/mt CFR on average, up by $145/mt from the level announced in March, SteelOrbis has learned from the market. There have been some higher prices of $916/mt CFR and $918/mt CFR for the same grade, according to some customers. “The prices are in line with our expectations. Demand is good,” a local trading source said, adding that customers will be active in purchases of HRC locally in the near future.
Prices for SS400 grade HRC for pipe makers from FHS have reached $905-910/mt CFR and are up to $915/mt CFR in some cases.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, in March the producer had hiked its prices by $45/mt.
According to sources, taking into account the interest in replenishment of stocks from a number of buyers in Vietnam and higher offers of import HRC, customers will try to increase local purchases. The current local price from FHS is equivalent to about $900/mt FOB. But last week offers for HRC from Vietnam to the export market, to the Mediterranean region for instance, were heard at above $1,050/mt CFR. FHS is still focused on local sales with limited volumes available for exports and only with high realizations.
In Vietnam, both Indian and Chinese exporters have been targeting higher prices. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, sales were at $900-940/mt CFR last week and at the moment the tradable level is still at $920/mt CFR on average.
The offer volumes from other exporters are limited in Vietnam. For instance, the official offer from the main Japanese producer is at $1,000/mt CFR Vietnam and higher to other Southeast Asian customers. There are no fresh offers from S. Korea as sellers have been focused on sales at higher prices to the EU and the US, and they have not been interested in trades to Southeast Asia.
Formosa Ha Tinh has also increased its local wire rod prices by $84/mt compared to the previous month, SteelOrbis has learned. No fresh offers of billet have been issued due to lower profitability in this segment compared to others.