Posted on 04 Nov 2024
Vietnamese hot rolled coil producer Hoa Phat Dung Quat has largely maintained its monthly domestic prices, Kallanish notes.
"The Vietnamese HRC market is still very weak with customers adopting a wait and see attitude," a regional trader says.
Hoa Phat’s quotes announced last Friday (1 November) for non-skin passed SAE1006 or SS400 grade HRC for January/February shipment were set at the equivalent of around $534/t cfr southern Vietnam, excluding VAT.
While this is a drop of around $14/t from its official list price of $548/t last month, the mill had discounted its prices to get domestic sales.
“Last month, Hoa Phat gave rebates so its HRC prices were the same, $530-535/t,” a Vietnamese trader notes. This applied to tonnage bookings of 10,000t and more. The company sold 180,000-200,000t at this level. The Vietnamese rerollers’ export markets for galvanised steel are weak, he adds.
In VND terms, the latest price is a marginal increase of VND 60/kg ($2/t) over last month’s VND official list price of VND 13,590/kg to southern Vietnam.
The Vietnam dong has weakened against the US dollar over the past month. The mill’s quotes to northern and central Vietnam are now at VND 13,560/kg. Skin-passed hot rolled coil are charged a $5/t premium.
Meanwhile, a Chinese trader’s position cargo for SAE 1006 HRC is prevailing at around $530/t cfr Vietnam. The cargo is prompt for quick November shipment.
"The Chinese offer is not competitive," a Hanoi trader notes. Meanwhile, South-Korean 2-3mmmm base SAE 1006 HRC is being offered at $530-535/t cfr Vietnam.
"I think that this is a hard sell," a Chinese trader says. He notes that Hoa Phat may face difficulties in its domestic sales also because local buying has lessened.
SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC is assessed at $525/t cfr Vietnam, up $2.5 on-week.
Source:Kallanish
