Posted on 28 Jan 2021
The Vietnamese hot rolled coil market continues to weaken, Kallanish notes. A domestic mill has announced prices reflective of the current market. Traders say they expect bearish sentiment to prevail for the next two weeks as the market starts to wind down for the Lunar New Year holiday.
In the past two days, two Chinese mills sold 3,000 tonnes and 10,000t respectively of 2.3-3mm thickness SAE 1006 HRC at $645/tonne cfr and $652-655/t cfr Vietnam. The cargoes are possibly for February/March shipment. Traders were earlier this week offering position cargoes of Chinese SAE 1006 HRC for February/March shipment at $655/t cfr.
Meanwhile, Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel announced on Wednesday that its domestic sales price for HRC for March/April shipment is at VND 15,200/t ($660/t) cfr to Haiphong or to Ho Chi Minh ports. The new HRC producer has indicated it will boost HRC offerings to nearly 300,000t by March, from the current 200,000t. The company has no official pricing policies yet to differentiate between SS400 and SAE 1006 products, Kallanish understands.
A Vietnamese trader says he was not surprised with Hoa Phat's prices. but adds: "I think the market will be better after the Lunar New Year." The market peaked earlier this month. Established HRC producer Formosa Ha Tinh raised its SAE1006 re-rolling HRC for March shipments by around $70/t month-on-month to $720/t cif on 8 January. Its SS400 HRC prices are $5/t lower.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed market reports are circulating that China will reduce the export rebate for HRC from the existing 13% to 9% effective 1 April. Chinese trading sources say that these are only rumours. A regional trader says he has not heard of the rumour and does not see the sense for the rebate cut "…as local supply has been sufficient."
Source:Kallanish
