Posted on 16 Oct 2020
Vietnam's Formosa Ha Tinh Steel has lowered its hot rolled coil monthly prices for new allocations of December shipments, Kallanish notes. The Vietnamese import market peaked in mid-September, after which prices turned down when Chinese traders started short-selling Chinese HRC exports.
Market participants have different views of Formosa's new prices. Some say the current import market is still weak, but others say that prices are inching up again.
Formosa's base re-rolling HRC with skin pass was lowered by $10-15/tonne from the previous month to $535/t cif Vietnam. This price applies to its large customers and the mill's prices could be up to $8/t higher for those with smaller orders.
Chinese trading sources say Formosa's prices are in line with the current market. A Chinese trader says offers for HRC from various Chinese mills are at $525-535/t cfr Vietnam for December shipments. Another says offers are now at $530-535/t cfr and that most mills have sold out of end-December shipments.
But a Vietnamese trader says the price is still higher than recent bookings and most offers currently in the market. Last week, a leading re-roller in southern Vietnam placed an order for 20,000 tonnes of Kazakh SAE 1006 HRC at $510/t cfr and there was a 40,000t order for Russian SAE 1006 HRC at $505/t cfr. The trader says Chinese SAE 1006 HRC is offered at $525/t cfr, Indian HRC at $530/t cfr and South Korean at $545/t cfr.
An Indian mill source says he expects Formosa to price its HRC at a minimum $540/t cif Vietnam. He expects higher prices because HRC could experience a shortage in the region.
Source:Kallanish
