Vietnamese steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) has announced new local HRC prices for June-July shipments, sustaining them at mainly the same levels as in March. The move has been explained by the recovery of ex-China HRC prices in Vietnam during the past week, though the new offers from Formosa are still higher than the more competitive offers coming from China.
More specifically, FHS’s prices for non-skin passed SAE1006 and SS400 HRC in the local market for June-July shipments have settled at $580-590/mt CIF Vietnam ports, versus $582-590/mt CIF announced back on March 19. Meanwhile, skin-passed SAE1006 HRC prices have been voiced at $585-595/mt CIF, unchanged from the previous price revision last month. “People say FHS has been providing discounts for large customers, with the price for big HRC orders for 20,000 mt and above heard at $575/mt CIF and the price for 10,000-20,000 mt orders at around $583/mt CIF. This is not official, but makes sense given that, although import HRC prices have been recovering, most Vietnamese buyers assess ex-China SAE1006 HRC offers at not higher than $565/mt CFR,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
Offers for ex-China Q235/SS400 HRC have been heard at $530/mt CFR, against $525-530/mt CFR last week. Meanwhile, the SteelOrbis reference price for import SAE1006 HRC has moved to $560-565/mt CFR, against $560/mt CFR at the beginning of last week. However, trade activity has remained minimal.