Vietnam: Imported HRC Offers Uptick Over Active Buying

Vietnam HRC import offers for re rolling grade from China rose marginally by USD 5/MT W-o-W basis over active buying from end users in Vietnam.Buyers are planning to restock the material ahead of Tet holiday scheduled in month of February.

Current offers for HRC re rolling grade 2mm thickness (SAE 1006 ) are heard around USD 570-580/MT CFR Vietnam.

Major mills like Baosteel and Benxi iron and steel are offering Chinese HRC to Vietnam at USD 585-600/MT CFR basis.Deliveries will be made in first half of Mar'18.

A local trader in Vietnam reported few Indian mills to offer HRC around USD 585-600/MT, CFR but owing to low availability no trades were reported.

Also Vietnam origin Formosa Ha Tinh remained active in domestic market and have recently concluded a deal of 20,000 MT of HRC to end users for February deliveries.This will surely affect the demand of imported HRC in Vietnam since domestic mills will provide prompt delivery to end users.

Chinese HRC export offers rose marginally-Chinese HRC export offers reported uptrend this week over rise in domestic prices.However despite dull demand Chinese flat steel prices showed upward momentum in domestic market.

Currently HRC commercial grade ASTM A36 export offers are prevailing in the range of USD 575/MT,FoB China.Payment are made on letter of credit basis for 1,000-10,000 MT.

Prices of HRC in domestic market moved up by RMB 10-20/MT D-o-D basis amid strong futures and are hovering in the range of RMB 4,240-4,280/MT (Eastern China) and RMB 4,040-4,070/MT (Northern China) including VAT & other taxes.

Major mills in China are offering HRC export offers on higher side which is heard in the range of USD 580-590/MT FoB basis.However overseas buyers seems reluctant to purchases over steady demand.

Japanese mills remain less active post New year holidays-Japanese steel mills have recently returned after the long New Year holidays and they are yet to resume actively. Few mills are offering HRC around USD 580-610/MT FoB basis for few South East Asian countries.

As per market sources Japanese based mill has booked the material of 12,000 MT to Vietnam in the range of USD 580/MT FoB basis which is equivalent to USD 595/MT CFR.

However,no recent offers from South Korean mills were heard this week.

Global Flat Steel Export Offers-Week 2, 2018

Source SteelMint Research
*including VAT