The price range in Vietnam’s import HRC market has remained very wide this week as Chinese mills and traders have maintained their offers for HRC with VAT stable at high levels, while, even though offers for ex-China non-VAT materials have remained rare, the non-VAT traders who returned to the market have decreased their prices in occasional deals in Vietnam.
This week, the price range for imported Q235/SS400 HRC from different sources from China has been at $530-560/mt CFR Vietnam, according to reports from market sources. The lower end of the range - $530-535/mt CFR - corresponds to offers from non-VAT Chinese traders, against $535/mt at the end of last week and down by $10/mt week on week. Meanwhile, most mills have been offering their materials with VAT at $560/mt CFR and some at even slightly higher levels.
Besides, offers for ex-China Q195 HRC have been heard at $540/mt CFR with VAT, while offers through non-VAT Chinese traders have been estimated at $530/mt CFR and below.
In the meantime, in the SAE1006 HRC segment, offers from Chinese mills have been estimated at $570/mt CFR and above, while the tradable level has been assessed at $555-560/mt CFR, following a deal from one of the Chinese mills for 50 percent 2.0 mm SAE1006 at the end of last week. “This week, Chinese futures prices have decreased slightly. However, this move has not changed the current trend yet. We still expect that prices in the upstream market will remain strong since the production costs of mills are rising, even though global demand is still unchanged,” a representative of a Vietnamese mill told SteelOrbis.
“We think that there will be no sharp change in the short run and that prices will be maintained within about $5-10/mt around the current levels,” another source in Vietnam said.
Offers from other foreign suppliers have remained rare in Vietnam, with indicative offers for ex-India and ex-Japan SAE1006 HRC estimated at around $570-575/mt CFR, which is considered unworkable by Vietnamese customers. Thus, the reference price for import SAE1006 HRC in Vietnam has settled at $555-560/mt CFR, against $560-565/mt CFR last week.
