Posted on 21 Aug 2023
The Vietnamese hot rolled coil market remains weak, Kallanish understands. Local mill, Formosa Ha Tinh had announced a hike in its domestic HRC prices earlier last week but later on conceded to a lower than desired increase.
On Friday, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) announced a cut of VND 310/kg ($13/t) for its new allocations of HRC. This was just four days after the mill had raised its monthly domestic hot rolled coil prices by $20/t on 14 August. At that time, the mill’s non-skin passed SAE 1006 HRC was pegged at around $610-625/t cif Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for September/October shipment (see Kallanish passim). After the price cut, a Hanoi trader thinks that the mill will be able to garner more sales. "But they will not be able to sell out all its allocation," he says.
Offers for Chinese-origin 2-2.5mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC are prevailing at around $570-580/t cfr Vietnam. The Chinese Tier 1 mills lowered SAE 1006 HRC offers by $5/t to $580-590/t cfr Vietnam, a HCMC trader says.
Some hear the HRC offers as low as $568/t cfr. A mill source in Vietnam reports some large volume deals of Chinese SAE 1006 HRC taking place at lows of $560-570/t cfr. However, Chinese and Vietnamese traders say that they do not hear of concluded HRC deals last week.
A Vietnamese trader blames the lower prices on Chinese exports which are being shipped out without the full payment of VAT. “I don’t know why the non-VAT business is still taking place here,” the trader says. Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $575/t cfr Vietnam, down $5 on-week.
Offers for 3mm base thickness Q235 HRC are prevailing at $550/t cfr and for Q195 grade HRC, $548/t cfr. These are for shipment by 10 October.
Source:Kallanish
