Vietnam: Imported HRC market turns less active, Indian mills hold back offers

Indian steel majors have put imported HRC offers to Vietnam on hold this week ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays. However, Vietnamese buyers are focusing on domestic procurement after domestic mills slashed their HRC offers in the middle of the month by around $65-75/t for Mar'22 shipments.

Current week's imported HRC offers

• Chinese offers are being heard around $795-805/t CFR against last week's $790-795/t CFR.
  
  
• Last heard Japanese offers were at $805/t CFR.
  
  
• Last week, price indications from Indian mills were hovering at $750-755/t, CFR levels.
  
  

Why have Indian mills held back offers?

• Eyeing higher offers for Mar'22 deliveries: The Indian steel majors are looking forward to increasing their offers for Mar'22 after having good export orders books for Feb'22. Furthermore, the demand-supply gap in the Vietnamese market with the limited capacity of domestic producers and the higher yet increasing offers for Chinese HRCs in the market are among the prime reasons.
  
  
• Slowdown in Vietnamese market on Lunar New Year holidays: The Vietnamese market generally remains muted for a fortnight owing to the Lunar New Year and Tet holidays. This year, it is to be observed in the first week of February.
  
  
• Indian mills eyeing domestic price increase for Feb sales: The steel majors are looking forward to increasing list prices of HRCs by around INR 1,500/t ($20/t), SteelMint learned from reliable market sources. This hike in prices is expected because of the increasing cost of production driven by the rising cost of power generation and feed materials such as coking coal and iron ore.
  
  

Also, the Indian mills are enjoying better realizations in the domestic market, with market prices of SteelMint's benchmark HRC (IS2062, 2.5-8mm) hovering around INR 63,000-64,000/t ($845-858/t) exy-Mumbai as of the previous week's assessment.