Vietnamese steel major, Formosa Ha Tinh, has cut HRC prices by $45/t m-o-m for April 2024 shipments. Subsequent to the revision, prices of HRC (SAE1006, skin pass) stand at $613-620/t CIF Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, non-skin pass coils are at around $608-615/t CIF, sources informed.
Factors behind lower offers-
1. Lower imported HRC offers:
- Chinese HRCs (SAE1006) offers dropped m-o-m to $600/t CFR in Feb’24, as against $610/t CFR a month ago. Offers for HRCs (SS400) stood at around $585-600/t CFR in Feb’24.
- Indian mills are not actively offering to Vietnam. However, last heard offers were around $610/t CFR.
- Meanwhile, no offers were heard from Japan, Russia and South Korea this week.
2. Weaker global market sentiments, competitive domestic prices: Global market sentiments have weakened. Hoa Phat has dropped monthly HRC (SAE1006, non-skinpass) prices for April-May 2024 sales by $30/t m-o-m. Post revision, effective prices are at VND 14,852/kg or $610/t CIF HCMC (southern region) against previous price of VND 15,653/kg ($640/t) excluding VAT.
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported steel inventory of key enterprises in mid-February 2024 at 18.978 million tonnes (mnt), an increase of 2.8472 mnt or 17.65% compared to 15.100 mnt in early-February.
3. Chinese HRC futures drop w-o-w: Chinese HRC futures (May 2023 contracts) on SHFE dropped w-o-w along with the fall in domestic HRC prices post CNY holidays. Settled prices of HRC futures are at RMB 3,882/t ($539/t) today, down RMB 93/t ($13/t) w-o-w against RMB 3,975/t ($552/t) a week ago. The same dropped by RMB 29/t ($4/t) d-o-d against RMB 3,911/t ($543/t).