Vietnam’s HRC import market has seen only minor downward corrections in prices this week, largely tracking recent fluctuations in Chinese HRC futures prices. Despite these slight adjustments, overall trading activity has remained subdued, with limited transactions and cautious buying sentiment prevailing across the market.
More specifically, this week, ex-China 2,000 mm Q235 HRC offers, which are not targeted by antidumping (AD) duty, have been voiced at $453-458/mt CFR for end of July-early August shipment, down by $2-3/mt week on week, while offers for Q195 HRC have settled at $440/mt CFR, down by $5/mt week on week. However, offers for 2,000 mm Q195 HRC have been voiced at $460/mt CFR, according to sources. Meanwhile, offers for ex-China SAE1006 HRC have been estimated at $470-475/mt CFR, mainly the same as last week.
Other foreign suppliers have been less active in Vietnam this week even though there is less competition with Chinese SAE1006 HRC suppliers due to AD duty. According to sources, only Indonesia has remained rather active with at least 60,000 mt in total of SAE1006 HRC reported to have been booked to Vietnam at $492-493/mt CFR for August shipment during past weeks.
Offers for ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC have been voiced at around $510/mt CFR, compared to $510-515/mt CFR last week, while most bids are still reported at $490-495/mt CFR levels.
As a result, the SteelOrbis reference price for imported SAE1006 HRC has remained at $470-495/mt CFR, the same as last week, with the lower end of the range corresponding to the most competitive offers from China, while the higher end corresponds to the tradable price from other foreign suppliers.
As of June 26, HRC futures at Shanghai Futures Exchange are standing at RMB 3,103/mt ($433/mt), remaining stable since June 19, while up 0.39 percent compared to the previous trading day, June 25.