Vietnam’s HRC import market has remained weak this week, while re-rolling grade offers from most foreign suppliers have been mostly stable. Offers from Chinese suppliers for pipe-making HRC have also been stable overall, though a few showed a slight increase in line with a modest rebound in China’s HRC futures prices.
Import offers for ex-China Q235 2,000 mm HRC in Vietnam have been voiced at $475/mt CFR, compared to deal prices at $468/mt CFR last week and offers at $470-472/mt CFR. This slight recovery has been mainly attributed to higher HRC futures prices in China, which by November 20 have reached RMB 3,267/mt ($460/mt), increasing by RMB 13/mt ($1.8/mt) since November 13, while decreasing by 0.55 percent compared to the previous trading day, November 19.
Offers for SAE1006 HRC from most foreign suppliers have remained relatively stable over the past week, with no fresh deals reported so far. In particular, offers for SAE1006 HRC from India have been voiced at around $495-500/mt CFR for late December shipment. Besides, offers for ex-Indonesia 3 mm SAE1006/SS400 HRC have been heard at $493/mt CFR for 20,000 mt for February shipment, while offers for bigger orders or around 30,000 mt have settled at $491/mt CFR for February shipment. Offers from a Malaysian HRC mill for 3 mm SAE1006 are still voiced at $520/mt CFR for shipment in late January, while offers for ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC have been estimated at $510-515/mt CFR for January shipment.
Thus, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has moved to $491-500/mt CFR, down by $ 4/mt on the lower end of the range given discounted prices for ex-Indonesia HRC for big orders.
