Vietnam buyers show low demand for imported HRC; but Chinese offers rise

The Vietnamese buyers continue to show low preference for imported hot rolled coils (HRC) focusing majorly on the domestic producers. However, the Chinese mills continued to elevate their offer levels to the Vietnam market, increasing the same by $15-20/t this week.

Current week's offers:

• Chinese HRC offers stand at around $920-930/t, up from the deal concluded at $905-910/t CFR a week ago.
  
  
• Japanese offers continue to hover around $980/t CFR.
  
  
• There were no offers heard from Russia, India or South Korea this week as well.
  
  

"Buyers have continued to prefer domestically produced HRCs with Formosa and Hoa Phat offering around $930-935/t CIF and $910/t CIF Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) basis for May- early June shipments. Although the Chinese mills' offers are almost aligned to those of domestic mills, the disruptions in the global supply chain have kept the interest low for imported HRCs this month," said a few Vietnam-based sources.

Indian mills continue scanning European markets for exports: A few Indian steel majors are actively concluding deals at higher prices for the European market. However, the quantities booked per deal are quite low. Towards the end of the previous week, around 1,000-2,000 t of HRCs were heard booked at $1,365/t CFR Europe for May'22 shipments. Such price levels are not viable for the Vietnamese market at present, said most of the Indian steel manufacturers.

Japanese mills are content catering to domestic market: The Japanese mills continue to focus on the domestic market for hot-rolled products and are less interested in booking for exports. Tokyo Steel, Japan's largest EAF steelmaker, has raised monthly steel prices by up to JPY 10,000/t ($81/t) for Apr'22 sales on increased cost burden amid surging raw material prices and rising steel prices globally. Subsequent to the annoucement, the prices of HRCs stand at around JPY 120,000/t ($969/t)-exw.

Thus, the mills there have continued to keep their offers elevated despite a lack of competition in the market from India, Russia and South Korea.

Near-term outlook:
Domestic buyers are likely waiting for the next round of price announcements by domestic mills for the month of April.