Posted on 07 May 2025
Prices for hot rolled coil imports in Vietnam are expected to dip further, Kallanish understands. Weak demand in the country’s oversupplied coated steel market are not able to provide support for the market, industry sources say.
Japanese and South Korean HRC offers will likely come down to $500/tonne cfr, traders in Vietnam said on Tuesday.
“Their prices will fall because they need to compete with Formosa and Hoa Phat,” a Ho Chi Minh City trader says.
Bookings for Japanese 2mm base thickness SAE 1006 HRC concluded at $508/t cfr and for Korean material at $511-512/t cfr last month, but the market has softened since then, trading sources say.
Hoa Phat is “selling well” its domestic allocations for June shipments as its prices are $5-10/t cheaper than those of Formosa Steel, another trader says. But he expects Hoa Phat to give discounts to buyers depending on booking quantities.
The company's offer for non-skin passed SAE1006 or SS400 grade HRC for June delivery was set at $513/t cfr on 5 May (see Kallanish passim). Others do note that Vietnamese buyers have little choice but to accept Hoa Phat’s offers because of the current anti-dumping action on Chinese HRC. Hoa Phat is notably also exporting HRC to the EU, Vietnamese market sources note.
Demand for coated steel is very weak in Vietnam and in export markets, a Vietnamese reroller and galvanizer says.
“There is just too much supply of coated steel,” he says, adding that many coated steel producers have already reduced capacities last year. "They just want orders. And customers are also bidding too low," a Hanoi trader says.
Source:Kallanish
