Vietnam: Formosa Cuts HRC Offer for January

Vietnam's domestic mill - Formosa Ha Tinh has cut HRC offers by USD 30-40/MT across various grades and for wire rod by USD 15/MT for Jan'19 against last month offers.

Vietnam's domestic steel producer - Formosa Ha Tinh Corporation have revised their monthly HRC offers for Jan'19 shipments. The company has cut HRC offers by USD 30-40/MT and Wire Rod by USD 15/MT on monthly basis following significant decline in imported HRC offers from China, Russia and India.

According to company officials, currently Formosa's HRC SAE 1006 offers with skin pass is assessed at USD 530-535/MT CIF Ho Chi Minh City.Last month offers were at USD 570/MT CFR basis.

Meanwhile the company also slashed HRC SS400 by USD 35/MT and is offering at USD 520/MT on CIF basis which was last month offered at USD 555/MT CIF basis.

Company has cut HRC offers further in line with weaker offers for imported HRC to Vietnam from major exporting nations like China, India and Russia. On monthly basis imported HRC offers to Vietnam plunged by about USD 40-50/MT and are hovering at USD 515-525/MT CFR Vietnam which was USD 570/MT from China in beginning of Oct'18.

Similarly, imported HRC offers from Indian and Russian mills are also hovering on lower side. Offers from Indian mills is around USD 525/MT, CFR and from Russia it is around USD 505/MT CFR basis.

Thus lower bides from end users in Vietnam in turn leads to further decline in domestic HRC offer from Formosa to escalate buying.

Formosa steel sales figures for last month - As per sources,in last month, company recorded domestic sales at around 2,71,000 MT of HRC and 66,000 MT HRC for exports in overseas markets. Sales in exports have come down while domestic sales have increased.

Current HRC trade offers to Vietnam - Week 46, 2018
1.HRC (SAE 1006) 2-3mm / Chinese offer - Benxi Steel is at USD 525/MT CFR Vietnam. A month back offers were around USD 565/MT, CFR

2.HRC (SAE 1006) 2-3mm / Chinese offer - Rizhao Steel is at USD 520/MT CFR Vietnam.

3.HRC (SAE 1006) 2-3mm / Chinese offer - Laiwu Steel is at USD 515/MT CFR Vietnam.

Formosa cuts wire rod offer further by USD 15/MT- Company has also reduced wire rod offers by USD 15/MT M-o-M basis and is assessed at USD 570/MT CFR basis. However last month wire rod offers was hovering at USD 585/MT CFR basis.However for wire rod the sales numbers were around 31,000 MT for domestic market and around 28,000 MT for exports to overseas market.