Posted on 02 Apr 2025
The import market for hot rolled coil in Vietnam is relatively stable with import prices remaining largely rangebound, Kallanish notes.
Weak demand for coated material continues to limit HRC prices from rising.
A large booking of 50,000-60,000 tonnes of Japanese SAE 1006 HRC from Japan was heard booked more than a week ago at $505-510/tonne cfr. Several leading rerollers in southern Vietnam are heard to be the main buyers. The transacted price is “too good” for buyers, a Vietnamese trader says. Domestic mill Hoa Phat’s price to Vietnamese buyers was recently $508/t but Japanese HRC quality is usually deemed higher, he adds.
Rival Vietnamese mill Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has now sold out its domestic allocations released on 11 March. The mill eventually gave a $8/t discount for large-volume buyers of 20,000t or more. Its originally announced price was the equivalent of about $524/t for its latest round of domestic HRC sales. But smaller-volume buyers did not get price discounts.
A Malaysian mill is also heard to have sold more than 10,000t of HRC to Vietnam at $515/t cfr during last week. Trading sources heard that it was a trial order, and Vietnamese buyers are willing to pay at this level because there are no other lower-priced cargoes in the market.
Indonesia’s Dexin Steel has lowered its SAE1006/SS400 3mm base HRC by $5/t to $515/t fob from a week earlier. This would be equivalent to around $535/t cfr Vietnam, which buyers regard as too high a price.
Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $505-515/t cfr Vietnam, up $2.5/t on-week.
Source:Kallanish
