Posted on 03 Mar 2022
Vietnam’s importers have been actively buying Chinese re-rolling hot rolled coil in recent days, Kallanish notes. Prices for transactions this week rose by $20/tonne on-week and suppliers are telling buyers that they plan to hike prices further.
Bookings of Chinese 2-2.5mm SAE 1006 grade HRC took place this week for May shipment mainly from four Chinese mills at $870-880/tonne cfr Ho Chi Minh City. This compares to $855-865/t cfr late last week. The upper limit price was for material from a popular Chinese mill. Most Vietnamese and Chinese trading participants estimate the recent orders total around 100,000 tonnes. “A portion went to traders, the other went to Vietnamese end-users,” a Vietnamese trader says.
On Wednesday, the Chinese HRC offers were no longer available. “Suppliers say that they will hike prices tomorrow,” another Vietnamese trader said on Wednesday. “Prices should go up more; Chinese futures are very strong today,” a Chinese trader says.
Chinese HRC has been the most competitive in the Vietnamese market amid offers from East Asian and Indian mills that were at $900/t cfr Vietnam and higher. A Vietnamese trader says there are only Chinese offers in the market at present, with other origins not quoting. "Prices are jumping up fast. EU buyers are chasing for materials from Asian steel mills, which has caused the price jump," a Taiwanese trader says. A regional trader in Singapore observes: “To date, I have not heard of bookings at above $900/t cfr, but I think it’s coming soon.”
“We are at present focused on selling to the Western Hemisphere because of better realisation,” an Indian mill representative says. He says the Vietnamese market is comparatively lagging behind by more than $100/t. He does not think that any Indian mill is currently offering HRC for export because of the uncertainties surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Source:Kallanish
