Posted on 17 Feb 2023
Vietnamese producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has hiked its latest monthly domestic hot rolled coil prices by nearly $60/tonne. Market participants had anticipated a smaller price hike of $45/t. The increase is spurring Chinese HRC suppliers to lift offers to Vietnam.
The mill announced on 16 February that the April-shipment price for non-skin-passed SAE 1006 HRC would be set at the equivalent of $694/tonne cif Vietnam, up from around $635/t cif last month, company sources tell Kallanish. Skin-passed HRC commands a $5/t premium. The mill’s prices for SS400/pipe-making grade HRC are the same as that for re-rolling grade.
“In my opinion, the [announced] prices are high. FHS is aiming to sell to the export market. EU demand is better,” a trader in Ho Chi Minh City says. “We can export to the EU at over $700/t fob,” an FHS source tells Kallanish. The mill’s HRC offers are at $720/t fob to the EU, with freight at around $45/t, a Hanoi trader says.
Domestic pipemakers and fabricators will not be able to pay the price hike, the Hanoi trader notes. While re-rollers will find it slightly difficult to accept the new prices, “re-rollers still need HRC for coated export orders, and import prices are all going up”, he adds.
Certain Chinese mills have hiked offers in view of the FHS price announcement. Some larger Chinese mills are now offering 2mm up thickness SAE 1006 HRC at $690/t cfr Vietnam, which is the same level as FHS, a local trader says. The smaller Chinese mills were offering at $655/t cfr for 2.3-3mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC for March shipment, a Chinese trader reports. “Such offers should go up today,” he said on Thursday. Other traders say they are already seeing offers for SAE 1006 HRC from the smaller mills at around $670/t cfr.
“Market demand is sluggish here but market sentiment outside Vietnam is strong,” another Vietnamese trader observes. Commercial quality SS400 or Q195 grade 3mm up thickness HRC from China has been hiked to around $635/t cfr Vietnam, up from $620/t cfr earlier this week, local trading sources concur.
Source:Kallanish
