Posted on 24 Mar 2025
Hot rolled coil prices in Vietnam rose slightly last week, but the market continued to see weak demand, Kallanish notes.
"The market is very quiet now,” a trader in southern Vietnam said on Friday. He did not hear of import deals.
"Demand is still low," a reroller notes. Both domestic and export demand for coated steel are slow but the domestic market is a "bit better".
In terms of local mills, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) is still gathering orders for its latest round of domestic HRC sales. But the mill has been forced to give a discount of around $8/tonne to close deals with domestic buyers, the Hanoi trader commented on Friday.
Just on 11 March, FHS announced a substantial increase of around $30/tonne for its domestic HRC prices for April/May shipment. For bookings of 20,000 tonnes or more, the mill’s non-skin passed HRC was set at VND 13,364/kg ($524/t) cfr southern Vietnam. The price goes up to about $533/t for 2,000-5,000t bookings (see Kallanish 12 March).
Offers for imported HRC are also few. There are no offers for Indian HRC, a Hanoi trader says. He heard a rumoured offer for Japanese HRC at $515/t cfr Vietnam, which he dismisses as untrue because it is too low-priced.
The offer price from Indonesia’s Dexin Steel has risen. The steelmaker raised SAE1006/SS400 3mm base HRC to $520/t fob, up $10/t from a week earlier. This would be equivalent to around $540/t cfr Vietnam.
Meanwhile, traders were still offering Dexin’s HRC at $510/t cfr Vietnam. Quotes for Japanese and South Korean SAE 1006 2-3mm with 30-50% 2mm thickness HRC were prevailing at $530/t cfr. “Bids are only at $500-505/t cfr,” another Vietnamese trader observes.
Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $505-510/t cfr Vietnam, up $5 on week.
For China-origin 2,000mm wide SS400/Q195 HRC, a Hangzhou-based exporter said on Friday that transactions were at about $465/t cfr Vietnam days earlier and are now approaching $470/t.
Source:Kallanish
