This week, Vietnam’s leading HRC producer, Hoa Phat Group, has announced its new prices for April delivery, keeping them unchanged month on month in Vietnamese dong terms. However, due to currency fluctuations, prices indicate a slight downward adjustment of approximately $3-4/mt when converted into US dollars. The decision to keep prices stable was largely driven by the absence of low-priced, non-VAT HRC offers from China. At the same time, other foreign suppliers have neither shown attempts to significantly raise prices nor have they offered notable discounts, while demand in the Vietnamese market has remained extremely weak.
Specifically, Hoa Phat’s prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC have been announced at VND 13,490-13,520/kg ($515-516/mt) CIF, where the lower end of the range corresponds to prices in northern and central Vietnam, while the higher price is found in the south. Thus, the current price is around $3-4/mt lower than last month.
However, according to sources, most local customers’ price ideas are still reported at $500/mt CIF and lower, the same as last month.
In the meantime, given the imposition of export licenses in China, traders who had earlier offered their non-VAT material at cheaper prices have left the Vietnamese market, with the indicative offers for ex-China Q235 HRC reported at $485-490/mt CFR for March shipment.
At the same time, offers for ex-India SAE1006/SS400 HRC have been voiced at $493-495/mt CFR, though most bids are still voiced at $490/mt CFR. Offers for ex-Japan HRC have been voiced at $505-510/mt CFR.
Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has settled at $493-500/mt CFR, the same as last week.