The Vietnamese hot rolled coil import market strengthened during the past week, Kallanish notes. Suppliers have raised their offer prices to Vietnam amid the rising import price in China.

Vietnamese importers have raised their bid price for fresh cargoes of Indian SAE 1006 2mm and up thickness HRC to $440/tonne cfr Vietnam. Offers for fresh Indian HRC cargoes have risen to $445/t cfr, whereas position cargoes for shipment in July/mid-August are available at around $440/t cfr.

Other Asian HRC offers have also risen. South Korean 2mm base SAE 1006 HRC is now offered at $460/t cfr, up $5/t from a week ago.

An offer for 2-2.5mm thickness HRC from a popular Chinese mill was heard Friday at $470/t cfr Vietnam. The offer is directly from the Chinese mill and for August shipment, a local Vietnamese trader says. The offer is possibly from the mill, a Chinese trader says. "But I think no one can buy [it]," he says. A Vietnamese trader says that, with the current rainy season and Covid-19 situation, he does not think prices can rise to that level.

On Friday, Kallanish assessed 2-2.7mm SAE1006 HRC at $440-445/t cfr Vietnam, $7.5/t higher week-on-week.

In China, two 20,000-tonne cargoes of SAE 1006 HRC from India were booked on Thursday at $450/t and $451/t cfr China. This compares with the previous order of Indian SAE concluded on around 3 July at about $441/t cfr China. These are for September shipments.