The Vietnamese imported hot rolled coils (HRC) market remained silent for yet another week. A persistent preference for domestic HRCs in Vietnam led a few exporting countries to stabilise their prices while others remained subdued.
However, rumours of lower Russian HRC export offers on the heels of a proposed export tax has confused the market.
“Today we heard offers for Russian HRCs at $865-870/t CFR Vietnam for July shipments. Till the end of last week, offers for Russian HRCs were heard around $1,100/t CFR Vietnam for SAE 1006. This seems to be an impact of the proposed export duty announcement made last week,” said a trade segment source.
Last week, the Russian government, announced export duties on all steel products at the rate of 15%, but minimum $54 per tonne, effective 1 Aug’21 till 31 Dec’21. The base duty rate will be 15%, and in addition, a specific part will be established, which is calculated as the minimum rate per tonne of products. Russia exported nearly 5.86 million tonnes (mn t) of HRC plates in CY’20.
Key reasons why the Vietnam imported HRC market stayed silent
- Lucrative offers from domestic mills like Formosa and Hoa Phat.
- Dampened buying interest for imported HRCs over Covid-19 concerns.
- Importers biding their time over unclear direction on an expected Chinese export tax levy.
Offers from major Chinese mills dip: HRC export offers from major Chinese mills to the Vietnamese market have fallen marginally and are heard at around $980-1,050/t CFR for SAE 1006. Offers have fallen by $10 w-o-w. The air of uncertainty surrounding the imposition of an export tax by the Chinese government limited the movement in offers this week.
Limited offers from Indian mills: Majority of the steel mills based in India didn’t roll out any firm offers this week on low buying preference. Few indicative offers were heard around $990/t CFR basis for the Vietnamese importers. Meanwhile, higher realisations in the EU, Gulf and Turkey kept Indian manufacturers glued to opportunities in these markets.
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