The offer price for Chinese 3-12mm thick S400 hot-rolled coil for shipments in October fell sharply on Friday to $580-585/tcfr Ho Chi Minh City, bidders in Vietnam and China said. Offers come from traders who underestimate these loads.
“There is a big drop in prices today,” a South Vietnamese trader said on Friday. But he believes the latest prices for Chinese offerings are "reasonable" amid continued losses in China's steel futures markets. Chinese-made SS400 hot rolled steel traded at $610-618/t cfr Vietnam during August 1-3 after falling to a low of around $570/t franc in mid-July.
Demand in Vietnam's hot-rolled steel segment is still lower than for SS400 hot-rolled steel. “There is no way to offer material because there is no demand,” says a Chinese trader. According to a Vietnamese trader, some traders are also selling uncoated open source materials, whether Indian or Chinese SAE 1006 HRC, at US$600 per tonne of francs. Another says an international trader is offering Taiwanese origin HRC SAE 1006 for October delivery at $595/t in Vietnam. He understands that the trader can deliver 40,000 tons. “Prices have dropped again,” he adds.
Callanish priced SAE 2-2.7 mm thick hot-rolled steel at $595-600/t cfr Vietnam, $10/t less than in a week.
On August 17, local producer Hoa Phat set the price of its bare-rolled hot-rolled steel for shipment in October at the equivalent of US$595 per tonne of Vietnamese francs for both SAE 1006 and SS400 grades.
