Posted on 25 Mar 2024
Vietnam’s hot rolled coil import market rebounded last week after falling sharply the prior week, Kallanish notes. Vietnamese buyers continue to steer away because they are wary of continued price fluctuations.
Offer prices for commercial-quality HRC from China lifted by $10-15/tonne, in tandem with the recovery of the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Offers for 3-12mm thickness Q235B HRC from China are prevailing at $535/t cfr Vietnam and for 3mm base thickness Q195 HRC at $525/t cfr.
“I think all buyers will only consider buying Q235 at under $530/t cfr,” a Ho Chi Minh City trader says. The commercial HRC market bottomed during the week through 15 March when small-tonnage deals for Q235B HRC took place at $520/t cfr and for Q195 at around $515/t cfr. However, SAE 1006 HRC prices did not fall. Offers last Friday heard at $565/t cfr were at about the same level as the 15 March week.
The market is silent after the rebound. “Buyers are still expecting low prices,” a regional trader says. “I did not close any recent deals,” a Vietnamese trader notes. Since the futures market rose, customers are scared, he adds.
“Customers need more time to accept the price increases,” a Hanoi trader observes. He thinks there will be acceptance eventually because prices were too low before. “Traders were aggressively short-selling before and now there are no cheap cargoes to cover for these sales,” he says. He believes that with the sudden turnaround in the market, traders will now not be rushing to short-sell material.
Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $565/t cfr Vietnam, down $2.5 on-week.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Formosa Ha Tinh Steel is heard to have lowered its latest monthly domestic HRC prices by $10/t to around $583-590/t cif Vietnam. It released the prices for May/June shipment on 13 March (see Kallanish passim). "The mill gave a discount but it is still not attractive," a trader says. The prices are still higher than buyers' expectations, he adds.
Source:Kallanish
