Vietnam’s leading steel mill Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS) has steeply reduced its monthly hot-rolled coil (HRC) offers for September 2022. Post-revision, the effective price of skin-pass HRCs (SAE1006) stands at $655/t CIF Ho Chi Minh. The prices are lower by around $100/t against prices announced in mid-June 2022. However, the company had announced significant reductions in HRC prices twice in August, bringing offers down to $720/t CIF Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).
SteelMint analyses following factors behind the price drop-
1. Drop in imported HRC prices: China’s HRC export offers for Vietnam fell by $75/t m-o-m to $670/t CNF in early-July from $755/t CNF Vietnam during early-June.
2. Subdued overseas demand for Vietnam downstream products: Demand for HRCs has been slow in the Vietnamese market lately. With the European Commission bringing Vietnamese-origin hot-dipped galvanised (HDG) into country-specific quotas, demand has lowered further.
3. Fall in domestic sales: Vietnamese integrated steel major Hoa Phat’s steel sales stood at around 560,000 t in June, down by 15% against 660,000 t in May. Low buying interest and inclusion of value-added-HDG products in EU’s country-specific quotas have been among the major factors impacting sales. In H1CY22, Hoa Phat’s sales volumes aggregated to about 4 mnt, as per the company’s press release.
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