Although market insiders were reporting more restocking activity in Vietnam over previous weeks, this week trade activity in the HRC import segment has remained rather moderate given the mounting uncertainty over the future price trend due to fluctuations in Chinese futures prices during the past week, coupled with the ongoing absence of other foreign suppliers from the country.
Accordingly, while at the beginning of the week, most prices available for ex-China position SAE1006 HRC settled at $575/mt CFR, compared to $575-580/mt CFR last week, with bids standing at around $573/mt CFR, by Thursday, December 7, market insiders have reported most ex-China SAE1006 HRC offers at levels of $595/mt CFR and above, depending on the supplier. However, most Vietnamese customers have estimated the tradable price level at around $580-585/mt CFR, with the SteelOrbis’ reference price established at this level so far given the absence of new deals in the market.
At the same time, at the beginning of the week, a few deals for around 5,000-10,000 mt of ex-China Q195 HRC were reported at $555/mt CFR for January shipment, down by $5/mt week on week. However, by Thursday, most offers for ex-China Q195 have been heard at as high as $570/mt CFR, while SS400 HRC offers have been estimated at $575/mt CFR and above, against $560-565/mt CFR last week.
The recent increase in ex-China HRC prices is mainly explained by the recovery in futures HRC prices in China. Specifically, as of December 7, HRC futures prices at the Shanghai Future Exchange are standing at RMB 4,114/mt (579/mt), edging up by RMB 7/mt ($1/mt) or 0.17 percent compared to November 30 and up by RMB 89/mt ($12.5/mt) since yesterday.
At the same time, other suppliers have continued to refrain from offers in Vietnam, with the indicative offers for HRC from Japan and Taiwan standing at around $630/mt CFR.
