Posted on 02 Sep 2024
Vietnam’s hot rolled coil import market was quiet on Friday, on the eve of a long holiday over the weekend, Kallanish notes. In general, Chinese HRC exporters hiked offers in tandem with a rising futures market.
Offers for 2mm and up thickness SAE 1006 HRC from China are heard at $485-490/tonne cfr Vietnam, up from $478/t cfr the week before. “There has not been much movement. But Vietnamese re-rollers are starting to get orders, so that they are starting to restock HRC for coated sales before year-end,” a Hanoi mill source says. Kallanish assessed SAE grade 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $480/t cfr Vietnam, up $2.5 week-on-week.
Last week, local HRC producer Formosa Ha Tinh announced a cut in prices in order to soak up unsold allocations for October shipment. For minimum purchases of 20,000 tonnes of SAE 1006/SS400 grades, the mill’s domestic HRC price was lowered to $511/t cfr Vietnam. Vietnamese market sources estimate the producer managed to secure 150,000t in domestic sales. It also sold 40,000-50,000t for export at $505-510/t fob. The export bookings were mainly to Mexico and Malaysia, traders note.
Offers for 3mm base thickness Chinese-origin Q195 HRC for September shipment were heard at $475/t cfr on Thursday. The shipment is prompt because Vietnamese customers are wary of any anti-dumping duties that may apply from October, a Hanoi trader says. An anti-dumping investigation is pending against imports of HRC from China and India. Another trader said on Friday that offers are prevailing at $480/t cfr.
There was a booking for Chinese Q195 HRC at $472/t cfr earlier in the week. It appears that customers in southern Vietnam are not overly worried about the prospect of anti-dumping duties. "They booked even October shipment," a trader says. He hears that at least 10,000t was booked in total. Offers for Q195/235 HRC for October shipment from China had previously slumped to $460-465/t cfr Vietnam during the week through 23 August.
Vietnam’s National Day holiday is officially celebrated from 31 August to 3 September but some started the holiday earlier on Friday, Vietnamese sources say.
Source:Kallanish
