Vietnam’s hot rolled coil (HRC) market has moved upward this week, with Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) announcing sharply higher prices for May-June delivery following a similar move by Hoa Phat Group. The increase, amounting to around $34-36/mt month on month, reflects strengthening domestic sentiment supported by tighter import conditions and rising regional offers, particularly after the introduction of anti-circumvention measures on Chinese material, which has effectively limited previously duty-free inflows and reinforced local pricing power.
More specifically, after the announcement at the beginning of this week by Hoa Phat Group of new local HRC offers at higher levels, FHS has also announced its new prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC, increasing them by around $34-36/mt to $552-554/mt CIF for orders for a minimum of 2,000 mt. For 5,000-10,000 mt volumes the price has settled at $546-548/mt CIF, and at $542-544/mt CIF for 10,000-20,000 mt orders.
The current prices from Formosa for the local market for large volumes are around $4/mt lower than those from the other major Vietnamese producer Hoa Phat Group ($546-548/mt CIF).
In the meantime, on April 2, 2026, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade introduced temporary anti-circumvention measures on certain hot rolled coil (HRC) imports from China. The move follows a preliminary investigation which found that Chinese exporters had been bypassing existing antidumping (AD) duties by making minor adjustments to product specifications, particularly widths. The authorities concluded that this practice led to a significant increase in circumventing imports, causing continued harm to Vietnam’s domestic steel industry and weakening the effectiveness of the original antidumping measures imposed in 2025. As a result, a uniform AD duty of 27.83 percent has been applied to all Chinese producers and exporters of the affected products, in line with the rate established under the initial ruling, effectively closing the loophole that had previously allowed imports of products such as 2 mm Q235 HRC to enter Vietnam without being subject to AD duties.
At the same time, offers for ex-India SAE1006/SS400 HRC have been voiced at $540/mt CFR, mainly the same as last week, but compared to $495/mt CFR reported in early March. Offers for ex-Indonesia SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at around $565/mt CFR for June and July shipments, up by $5/mt on the lower end of the range week on week, while offers for ex-Japan coils have been estimated at $550/mt CFR, up by $5-10/mt from deal prices reported last week.
Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has settled at $540-545/mt CFR, versus $530-540/mt CFR last week.