Posted on 21 Dec 2020
Overseas suppliers of hot rolled coil continue to be bullish. HRC prices in Vietnam have touched $700/tonne cfr, after crossing $600/t cfr only three weeks ago, Kallanish notes.
Leading rerollers in Vietnam ordered 30,000t of Japanese origin 2mm base SAE 1006 HRC for March shipment on Wednesday (16 December) at $700/t cfr Vietnam. Some traders deem this transaction price was achieved because international and Chinese HRC prices were creeping higher.
A tier 1 Chinese mill as well as another popular Chinese mill had offered SAE 1006 HRC for March shipment at $690/t cfr Vietnam. A Vietnamese stockist booked on 16 December a 10,000t parcel for 2-2.5mm thickness HRC from one of the two mills at $690/t cfr. This was a position cargo, due for February shipment, a Vietnamese trader says.
A tier 2 Chinese mill is indicating an offer price for 2-2.5mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC at $690/t cfr for February shipment and at $670/t cfr for March shipment. But Chinese trading sources on Friday say that Chinese SAE 1006 HRC prices were now tagged at $700/t cfr Vietnam. HRC prices are very strong because of the strong uptick in the domestic market, they say.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel announced on 15 December that its base SAE1006 HRC with skin pass for February/March shipments was increased by the equivalent of $92-93/t to $652-653/t cif Vietnam . As Vietnamese HRC users were mostly focused on getting purchases from the domestic mill., import buying was not recently active, a trader notes.
Kallanish assessed the import price for SAE 2-2.7mm thickness HRC on Friday, 18 December, at $690-700/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City, up $40/t week-on-week.
Source:Kallanish
