Posted on 05 Jul 2021
The Vietnamese hot rolled coil import market has weakened and slowed down, Kallanish notes. The lack of buying interest could be attributed to a low-priced Russian HRC deal on 25 June.
The deal for 90,000 tonnes of Russian strip closed at $860/tonne cfr Vietnam for 2mm and up thickness SAE1006 HRC. The cargo is due for prompt-July shipment to avoid payment of an export tax which is due to take effect from August. Some hear the parcel is to be shipped in three vessels, and includes 40,000t of SS400 grade booked at $850/t cfr Vietnam. “Some re-rollers will buy the SAE 1006 grade and, depending on the actual cargo received, will use it for either re-rolling or pipemaking applications,” a regional trader says.
Traders were inviting bids for the same Russian mill’s July-shipment SAE 1006 HRC at $880/t cfr Vietnam, but no one placed any bids, Vietnamese trading sources said on Friday. Buyers could be thinking that HRC prices will come down further this week or are waiting for domestic producer Hoa Phat to release its new HRC offers, he adds.
After the free-fall in prices caused by the Russian deal, Vietnamese buyers gave low bids and certain trades for SS400 grade HRC from China transacted at $860-870/t cfr Vietnam during the week through 2 July, a Chinese trader says. Another heard of a Chinese SAE 1006 2.3mm and up thickness deal on 28 June at $900/t cfr.
Offers for SAE 1006 HRC from India are prevailing at $900-950/t cfr Vietnam, down from $980/t a week earlier. Offers from China are at $920-930/t cfr and a Japanese Tier 1 mill’s offer for 2mm base HRC is $1,050/t cfr.
Kallanish lowered its SAE 2-2.7mm thickness HRC assessment on 2 July to $880-900/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City, down $45/t on-week
Source:Kallanish
