Posted on 13 Sep 2021
The anticipated fall in Vietnamese domestic hot rolled coil prices was realised last Saturday. Formosa Ha Tinh Steel has reduced the prices for its new domestic hot rolled coil allocations for November shipment by $30-35/tonne, Kallanish notes.
The mill has made known to its customers on 11 September that it is offering non-skin-passed SAE 1006 grade re-rolling HRC at $925-930/t cif Ho Chi Minh City, trading sources say. Prices for skin-passed SAE 1006 HRC and SS400 grade HRC are tagged at around $5/t higher and $5/t lower respectively. Formosa’s HRC sales prices are $5/t lower to Haiphong compared to Ho Chi Minh City. Sources in Formosa Ha Tinh were not available for comment.
The other strip producer, Hoa Phat, is expected to lower its domestic HRC prices for November to under $900/t cfr Vietnam soon. This is because it has to compete with Russian HRC import prices, a Vietnamese trader says. Suppliers are currently inviting bids for November shipment SAE 1006 HRC from a Russian mill at only $860-870/t cfr Vietnam. “They are inviting bids, these are not firm offers,” another Vietnamese trader notes. Recently the Russian mill’s HRC for December shipment was booked by a Korean trader at $820/t fob but this material has not been released yet in Vietnam, he adds. Formosa also lowered its domestic wire rod prices by $20/t on 11 September, Vietnamese traders say.
The Vietnamese HRC market has suffered from a plunge in steel demand on account of rising Covid -19 infections which has resulted in lockdowns in the country.
Source:Kallanish
