On February 11, local Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) announced its new HRC prices for domestic customers, decreasing them by around $17-23/mt month on month. The new offers have been revised downwards, as expected by most market insiders, given the new drops in prices for import HRC, for ex-China HRC in particular, while most customers have been pushing for lower bids given the slow demand in the country.
More specifically, FHS’ prices for re-rolling skin-passed and non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC to local customers have been voiced at $495-503/mt CFR Vietnam ports, for April shipment, down by $17-20/mt from last month. However, according to sources, the price depends on the size of orders, and, while $494/mt CFR is available for big orders of a minimum of 20,000 mt HRC, customers ordering 10,000-20,000 mt will pay $497/mt CFR, while the price for 5,000-10,000 mt batches stands at $500/mt CFR and for 2,000-5,000 mt at $503/mt CFR.
“HRC exports are not good, so Formosa has to sell more volumes locally and big customers will have more discounts,” a market insider said.
“Apart from HRC exports to India where they [Formosa] received BIS certification, many believe they should be thinking about HRC exports to the US. If they all are going to be subject to 25 percent, there should be options,” another source told SteelOrbis.
In the meantime, offers for ex-China Q235 HRC in Vietnam have been estimated at around $470/mt CFR, down by $5-10/mt week on week. However, several bookings for ex-China Q195 HRC have been reported at $468/mt CFR for March shipment, down by $5/mt week on week.
Firm offers for SAE1006 HRC have been rare in Vietnam, with indicative offers for ex-China coils estimated at $487-490/mt CFR for March shipment, down by $3-5/mt week on week. Besides, offers for ex-Indonesia HRC have been voiced at $505/mt CFR, though rumors about discounted ex-Indonesia offers at $485/mt CFR have been circulating in the Vietnamese market this week.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has moved to $487-490/mt CFR, from $490-495/mt CFR last week.
