Major Vietnamese mill Hoa Phat Group has announced its long-awaited new local HRC prices, with a continuation of the downward trend of prices. The previous drop in import HRC prices, insufficient demand in Vietnam, and major mills’ lower-than-expected sales in June have contributed to Hoa Phat’s decision to reduce its prices.
Hoa Phat’s prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC have settled at VND 14,460-14,490/mt ($549-550/mt) CIF (excluding VAT), down by $34/mt from the level announced on June 1. The pace of the decline has increased from a mild decline by $13-14/mt in the previous month. However, when comparing to the latest discounted sales of the mill heard in the second half of June, prices have been corrected less drastically. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, Hoa Phat was selling the latest part of its June allocation at $555-565/mt CIF. “This is a sharp drop, but this is reflecting the weak market and the ongoing declines in import prices,” a Vietnam-based source said.
At the same time, in the import market in Vietnam, Indian HRC through traders has been available at $535-536/mt CFR, indicating about another sharp fall from $542-545/mt CFR last week. “I am not sure this can be easily found from mills, but the market is so bad that I think this level is showing where the market is,” an Indian source said. “This low price is only for a position cargo. Most major exporting mills were waiting for Hoa Phat’s prices, which have been released just today,” a Singapore-based trader added.
There have been no fresh offers from the Indonesian mill to Vietnam yet, but traders have been voicing indications at $538-540/mt CFR. Indonesia got a quota for HRC in Europe at 31,834 mt per quarter, which is better than the zero quota for Malaysia for instance, but still this amount is very small for Indonesia, and its presence in Vietnam is expected to remain rather strong.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 in Vietnam has settled at $535-545/mt CFR, versus $542-551/mt CFR last week. The import price has lost $32/mt on average over the past month.
