Posted on 02 Feb 2023
Vietnam's Hoa Phat Group raised the domestic price for its new allocations of hot rolled coil by around $55/tonne, Kallanish notes. The price for non-skin passed SAE1006 or SS400 grade HRC is set at equivalent of around $650/t (VND 15,300/kg) cfr Haiphong and $652/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The prices are for March/early April shipments and are exclusive of VAT.
Market bullishness in China ahead of the -Lunar new year spurred market speculation that the mill's new HRC prices would be $560/t cfr and higher. Last week, traders had predicted that offers for Chinese 3-12mm thickness SS400 HRC will rise to $650/t cfr Vietnam this week.
Hoa Phat's price increase is “not high at all because other countries can accept this price or even higher,” , a trader close to the producer says. But domestic buyers in Vietnam cannot accept higher prices, he says. The mill does not have much allocations for export because it is operating two of its four blast furnaces at its Dung Quat steelworks.
“The announced prices are not high and take reference to the Chinese (SHFE) market falling,” a Chinese trader notes. A certain Chinese mill was offering 3-12mm thickness SS400/Q195 grade HRC at $637/t cfr HCMC or Haiphong in the morning of 31 January. That mill was willing to accept around $628-630/t cfr in the same afternoon because of a downward price correction in China’s SHFE.
The SHFE fell further on that day to CNY 4,100/t ($608.t) from CNY 4,300 on Wednesday, a Chinese trader notes. Trades for HRC from that particular Chinese mill concluded at $620-625/t cfr Vietnam on that day, Chinese trading sources say.
Source:Kallanish
