Vietnamese producer Hoa Phat Group has announced its new local prices for HRC for August shipment on May 2, hiking them by $28/mt month on month. The new prices of the company reflect positive sentiments in terms of the price trend among market players given the recent hikes in import HRC prices. However, the future trend still lacks clarity since, though Chinese sellers increased their offers to Vietnam before the Labor Day holiday (May 1-5), the drop in HRC futures prices in China before the holiday has been affecting sentiments.
The new prices of Hoa Phat Group for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC for August shipment have settled at VND 14,640-14,670/kg ($576-578/mt) CIF, where the lower end of the range corresponds to the prices in northern and central Vietnam, while the higher price is found in the south. This means that the current prices are around $28/mt higher than last month.
Although higher ex-China HRC import offers for Vietnamese buyers have played a role in setting Hoa Phat’s new prices, most Vietnamese buyers still believe the new levels are too high. In particular, on Monday, before leaving for their holiday, Chinese suppliers offered their Q235/SS400 HRC at around $540-550/mt CFR, the same as last week, though, according to Vietnamese traders, even lower offers at around $535/mt CFR “are of no interest to Vietnamese buyers now.” At the same time, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC are still estimated at around $565/mt CFR and slightly above.