Posted on 13 Dec 2021
Vietnamese buyers are awaiting domestic producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) to announce domestic prices for its new allocations, Kallanish notes. This weakened demand for imported strip and offer prices were depressed on 10 December. FHS is expected to announce its new allocations’ prices in the coming week after a much-anticipated price release was delayed on 11 December.
Regional trading sources has heard that the producer would set its new HRC prices at $830-840/tonne cif Ho Chi Minh City. But Vietnamese trading sources say that there was speculation that FHS’s domestic HRC prices would be slashed to a much lower level.
“Local buyers have told FHS that they will only consider buying from the mill at $800-810/t cfr,” a Vietnamese trader says. There is also market chatter that the other Vietnamese strip producer, Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel, will cut the price of its new allocations to $760-780/t cif. Last month, Formosa’s HRC price for January/February shipment was set at around $880/t cif Ho Chi Minh City and Hoa Phat’s January shipment at around $835-840/t cif.
An offer for Russian-origin 2mm up thickness SAE 1006 HRC for March shipment remained unchanged at $760/t cfr Vietnam on 10 December from the previous week. Offers for 2mm up thickness SAE 1006 HRC from two Indian mills were at $810/t cfr. But Vietnamese HRC users largely ignored these offers.
"The market is weak. No one wants to buy," another Vietnamese trader says. "They will wait for FHS and Hoaphat before deciding to import cargoes later," he adds.
Kallanish assessed SAE 2-2.7mm thickness HRC at $780-800/t cfr Ho Chi Minh City unchanged on-week.
Source:Kallanish
