Demand for SAE1006 hot-rolled coil in the key import market of Vietnam remained extremely weak in the week to Friday June 18 due to the surge in Covid-19 infections, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, market sources said.
China Hot Roll Coil ***
Major Chinese mills increased offers slightly for back-to-back cargoes of HRC at the start of the week, with Liaoning-based Benxi Iron & Steel offering July-production/August-shipment HRC at $1,100 per tonne fob.
Rizhao Iron & Steel listed its official HRC price at $975 per tonne fob China, while Shandong Iron & Steel was heard offering SS400 HRC cargoes at $940-950 per tonne fob China.
Many major Chinese steel mills have stipulated in their sales contracts that any changes in steel export taxes will be fully borne by buyers.
According to buyer sources in Vietnam, a major Chinese steel mill was offering SAE1006 HRC at $1,010 per tonne cfr Vietnam at the start of the week. But back-to-back offers by major Chinese mills had fallen to $980-990 per tonne cfr Vietnam by the end of the week.
Offers for July-shipment position cargoes were at $940-950 per tonne cfr Vietnam, but there was no interest from end-users.
Buyers were bidding as high as $925-930 per tonne cfr Vietnam, a Chinese trader told Fastmarkets. Other buyers were bidding at $900-920 per tonne cfr Vietnam or not at all, other sources said.
“The Covid-19 situation in Ho Chi Minh City is extremely bad. Cases are rising every day and rerollers have absolutely no interest to purchase,” a Vietnamese trader told Fastmarkets on Friday.
Rerollers are attempting to fill up their export order books to maintain production margins and are giving up on the domestic markets already, sources said.
“Some end users servicing the domestic markets have cut the quantities ordered from a domestic producer. It is especially bad for pipe-makers,” a second Vietnamese trader told Fastmarkets. Stockists and coil centers were also heard to have reduced their domestic quantities ordered.
Major domestic producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel was heard to have offered August-delivery and -shipment SAE1006 HRC (no skin pass) to some end users at $1,035 per tonne cif.
Bullish outlook in India ***
Major Indian steel mills were asking for $1,020-1,030 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week, refusing to budge on offers due to their positive outlook for their domestic and export markets.
They remain very bullish about domestic market fundamentals in the coming months, seeing good demand from downstream automotive and manufacturing sectors.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC, import, cfr Vietnam, which mainly looks at 2-3mm rerolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products, was $940-950 per tonne on Friday, widening downward by $10 per tonne from $950 per tonne a week earlier.
A major Japanese steelmaker was heard to have offered HRC to Malaysia at $1,130 per tonne cfr. It had raised its offer for HRC by $50 per tonne month on month last week to $1,100-1,200 per tonne cfr Southeast Asia. It has not confirmed an transactions to Fastmarkets so far.
A South Korean mill that regularly sells HRC to Vietnam has still not offered any cargoes to the Southeast Asian country this week, although it has restarted one of the blast furnaces that it idled in May.
Another major South Korean steel mill was heard to be in the spot market again, offering HRC at $1,100 per tonne fob
South Korea. There were offers heard for its material at $1,100 per tonne cfr Malaysia.
“This steel mill is not actively looking to export cargoes because of the good domestic prices,” a South Korean seller source told Fastmarkets this week. He estimated domestic prices to be at around 1.3 million Won ($1,148) per tonne this month.
The two major South Korean steel mills were heard to be offering HRC at 1.25 million -1.35 million Won per tonne.
Key market participants indicated spot prices for Japan, Korea, Taiwan-origin material at $970 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HRC (Japan, Korea, Taiwan-origin), import, cfr Vietnam was $970 per tonne cfr Vietnam on Friday, unchanged from a week earlier.
این مطلب بدون برچسب می باشد.
ثبت دیدگاه