Posted on 14 Nov 2022
The Vietnamese hot rolled coil market saw offer prices for Chinese HRC surge on Friday, Kallanish notes. Suppliers are also seen to be withdrawing from the market. The Chinese domestic steel market sentiment has rebounded strongly on some easing of Covid restrictions and the US equity rally.
Offers for 3-12mm thickness SS400 HRC are prevailing at around $530/tonne cfr Vietnam and for 2mm and up thickness SAE 1006 HRC, $550-560/t cfr. Only the week before, suppliers were asking buyers to bid for SS400 HRC at $505-510/t cfr Vietnam, and for SAE 1006 HRC at $515-520/t cfr. No orders have been heard at this new hiked levels, trading sources say. The last deals heard concluded were for several position cargoes of Chinese SS400 HRC booked at $490/t cfr and for traders’ short sales at $500-510/t cfr. These bookings were done during the week of 4 November.
A popular Chinese mill’s offer for SAE 1006 base HRC was at $515/t fob (or $530/t cfr Vietnam) on 10 November.
“But they withdrew the offer today,” a Chinese trader said on Friday. The Chinese yuan has strengthened against the dollar. Chinese exporters could stand to lose around $15/t in forex losses using the current forex 7.1 compared to the lows of 7.3 in end-October and early November, the trader says.
Vietnamese HRC importers are quiet this past week as domestic producer, Formosa Ha Tinh is due to release its new allocations' HRC prices.
"Everybody expects that Formosa will lower prices sharply," a Hanoi trader says. The Vietnamese strip producer's December-shipment price for non-skin-passed SAE 1006 HRC was set at around $590/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City last month. "Formosa's new prices could come down to $520-530/t cfr," a trader says.
Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $520-530/t cfr Vietnam, up $10 on-week.
Source:Kallanish
