Posted on 19 Oct 2020
Higher Chinese hot rolled coil export prices are driving up Vietnam's import market, Kallanish notes. Prices have gone up $5-10/tonne since last month due to improved optimism among suppliers.
Offers for HRC have risen to a minimum of $525/t cfr Vietnam for SS400 grade HRC and at $530/t cfr for SAE 1006 HRC, a Chinese trader said on Friday. These are for shipments by early January. Supply contracts for these offers would indicate material originating from China, India or South Korea, but the material will be sourced from China “…if the market does not change so much," he explains.
During the week ending 16 October, an order for 10,000 tonnes of 2mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC from a Tier 1 Chinese mill closed at $525-530/t cfr Vietnam. Also completed was the 30,000t purchase of Russian-origin SAE 1006 HRC at $510/t cfr. The week before, the buying price for the Russian mill's HRC was $505/t cfr Vietnam.
Some Vietnamese trading sources say that 2-2.5mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC from a popular Chinese mill was still available at $525/t cfr. While the offer from the Tier 1 Chinese mill was raised to $530/t cfr, bids were still being invited at $525/t cfr on Friday, a Vietnamese trader says.
Chinese HRC prices reached recent lows at end-September when short-selling traders were inviting bids for SAE 1006 HRC from China at $510-515/t cfr Vietnam. Last week domestic strip producer Formosa Ha Tinh reduced its monthly prices for SAE 1006 HRC to $535/t cif for large customers.
On Friday, Kallanish raised its 2-2.7mm SAE1006 HRC assessment to $515-525/t cfr Vietnam, up $5/t on-week.
Source:Kallanish
