Purchasing activity has slackened in the Vietnamese scrap market following the higher offers announced by suppliers. Though local scrap prices and billet quotations in Vietnam have increased, so far domestic mills are not in a hurry to restock with import raw material.
Offers for ex-Japan H2 scrap are at $250/mt CFR on average, the same as last week, but the gap between offers and bids has been quite big, as customers have been insisting on $240/mt CFR and lower. Ex-US and ex-EU HMS I/II (80:20) prices are at $255-265/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has been informed. Import scrap prices increased by $5-10/mt last week.
Apart from higher prices, trading activity has also been hit by financial issues. “There are problems with opening of letters of credit. There have been even some renegotiations for container shipments, and some of them may be redirected to other countries,” a Vietnamese trader said.
This week, local scrap prices in Vietnam increased by VND 200/kg, which is equivalent to about $9/mt, according to market sources. As a result, local scrap prices have reached VND 5,700-6,200/kg ($246-268/mt) delivered.
Billet prices have increased slightly, but this has not been enough to stimulate import scrap buying. Billet offers from Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh have been heard at $400/mt CFR, though failing to attract interest. Offers for induction-produced billet are at about VND 8,650/kg ($373/mt) ex-work. At the same time, rebar prices in Vietnam have remained the same since the middle of October.
$1 = VND 23,180