A decline in the offers of imported hot rolled coils (HRCs) into Vietnam was seen this week with indications of Chinese mills getting active in the region. A few trade sources highlighted offers for Chinese HRCs at $765/tonne (t) CFR Vietnam but for Apr’22 shipment while Indian and Russian mills delayed quoting offers for the Vietnamese market.
Meanwhile, a small parcel of 5,000-10,000 t of Indonesian-origin HRCs (SAE 1006) was heard booked at $810/t CFR for Jan’22 shipment. However, it could not be confirmed until the time of publishing of this article.
What is happening in the imported HRC market?
1. Exporters observing market: Indian mills held back from offering to the Vietnamese market basically due to higher domestic prices and consecutive hikes taken by mills in the past few weeks. Also, a surge in restocking demand in the domestic market led to higher offers which were around $910-920/t CFR basis a week back.
Russian mills too have been delaying announcement of export offers for the past couple of weeks, maintaining offers at $880/t CFR basis.
2. Japanese, Korean mills not offering HRC at present: The Japanese and South Korean mills have held back from offering HRCs to Vietnam for a couple of months now. Focus on the domestic market kept them away from offering HRCs in the Vietnamese market.
3. Importers await offers from domestic mills: The Vietnamese buyers are looking forward to the price policy announcement by Hoa Phat and Formosa Ha Tinh for the Jan’22 shipments. The buyers have been focusing more on domestic procurement because of the unclear momentum in prices in the overseas markets lately.
Hoa Phat’s HRC sales for Oct
Hoa Phat’s hot-rolled coil (HRC) sales reached over 0.20 million tonnes (mn t) in Oct, up 16% compared to 0.172 mn t Sept’21. However, overall steel sales were recorded at 0.968 mn t in October.
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