Vietnamese flat steel producer, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has announced a price cut for its finished flat steel products for December shipments. A company source, however, refers to it as an adjustment, rather than a decline amid demand revival in China post-Golden Week Holiday.
For December shipments, the steelmaker has cut HRC prices by $10-15/mt. After the revision, offers for HRC (SAE 1006) were at $535-540/mt cif. In the domestic market, the mill is offering the same grade in the north of Vietnam at VND12,400,000/mt ($535/mt) and VND12,520,000/mt ($540/mt) in the Southern region. HRC for pipe making and HRC (SS 400) prices are at $530-540/mt cif. These prices are subject to revision as per demand variation in the market.
The company’s prices for wire rod were revised to $518‑540/mt cif depending on specifications. Prices for lower volume could be higher by $8-10/mt than these levels.
HRC import price in the Vietnamese market, however, registered an uptick in recent days.
Trades for HRC up on auto demand
Imported HRC offers from Chinese mills were at $525-535/mt cfr Vietnam for December shipments. Most Chinese mills have received healthy orders and are said to have been sold out for end-December shipments.
In the HRC import market, trades were at $510-525/mt cfr Vietnam. A leading rolling mill was heard to have bought around 30,000mt of HRC at $510/mt cfr Vietnam for December shipment from Russia. Chinese SAE 1006 HRC traded at $525/mt cfr Vietnam while offers from India and South Korea were at $530/mt cfr and $545/mt cfr, respectively.
Hoa Phat Steel to supply HRC
Hoa Phat, another leading Vietnamese mill looks to supply HRC supply after leading in the supply of construction steel. Presently, Hoa Phat is supplying small parcels of HRC to some pipe makers, but away from offering to large steel mills. In the coming months, however, the steelmaker is likely to expand its HRC supply. In the January-September period, Hoa Phat Group supplied more than 4mn mt of steel, double than the prior-year period. Sale of finished construction steel reached nearly 2.5mn mt, while the remaining included steel billets and hot-rolled coil (HRC).
($1=VND23,177)