Vietnamese HRC producer Hoa Phat Group has announced its new local HRC prices mainly for September shipment, cutting them by around $13-15/mt from the previous month. The decision is attributed to the extremely slow demand in the country and is in line with market sources’ expectations, and, even though import quotations, for ex-China HRC in particular, have shown a slight recovery this week, the mood among most Vietnamese buyers has remained negative so far.
Specifically, Hoa Phat’s prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC mainly for September shipment have been announced at $551-552/mt CIF, down by $13-15/mt over the past month.
The decision to decrease prices follows the downtrend of import HRC prices observed during the past month. Besides, according to sources, although this week Chinese traders have slightly increased their offers for Q235/SS400 HRC for Vietnamese buyers to $520-525/mt CFR, up by $2-5/mt week on week, mainly amid the rises in local HRC prices and HRC futures prices in China, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been reported at $540/mt CFR, while buyers’ bids are still voiced at $535/mt CFR. Thus, on Tuesday, July 2, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has remained at $535-540/mt CFR level, the same as last week so far.
As of July 2, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,757/mt ($527/mt), increasing by RMB 36/mt ($5/mt) or 1.0 percent since June 25, while up 0.19 percent compared to the previous trading day, July 1, according to SteelOrbis data.
