The steel market in Vietnam remains optimistic this week due to global market price increases. Manufacturers have continued to adjust prices upwards for certain products to stimulate consumption in the market. However, the consumption of steel products appears to have weakened. Some traders have been cautious in adjusting prices and have even reduced prices for scrap and waste materials this week. Additionally, the Chinese market has shown a slight downturn, which may have an impact on the sentiment in the Vietnamese market. Therefore, there may be more fluctuations expected in the market next week.

Import scrap market:

Scrap prices coming to Vietnam have been difficult to gauge this week. While the prices offered by the United States may continue to increase, the prices from South Korea and Japan have slightly decreased or remained stable towards the end of the week. No transactions have been recorded in the market this week.

Domestic scrap market:

This week, some mills have slightly reduced scrap prices by 100-300 VND/kg, primarily in the northern region. Some mills in the central region have also slightly reduced prices by 200 VND/kg. However, the number of mills reducing prices is relatively small, so traders' prices have not decreased significantly, only decreasing by around 1.3%.

Export billet market:

Vietnamese sellers have not yet announced new export billet prices due to weak demand. Meanwhile, the offered price for billet from ASEAN sellers has increased to 630 USD/ton FOB, surpassing Vietnam's most recent offer. Vietnamese sellers may soon announce new billet prices.

Domestic billet market:

After a week of stagnation, billet prices have started to decrease this week by 250-350 VND/kg, primarily due to weak demand. However, the rate of decline in billet prices has slowed down due to the increase in construction steel prices.

Import HRC market:

The offered prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) coming to Vietnam have generally increased due to the Chinese futures market's continuous rise throughout the week. The common range of offered prices to Vietnam is approximately 650-695 USD/ton CFR, depending on the type of goods. At the same time, the market has recorded successful transactions of about 20 thousand tons.

Domestic HRC market:

HRC prices in the domestic market have also increased slightly, mainly at the beginning and middle of the week. However, the prices have only increased by 100-200 VND/kg, indicating a mild and non-uniform increase due to weak demand.

Export construction steel market:

The offered prices for Vietnamese export construction steel have slightly decreased by about 20 USD/ton, reaching 680 USD/ton FOB this week. However, this price level is still higher than other markets, making it challenging for the Vietnamese market to engage in trading.

Domestic construction steel market:

Hoa Phat and some other mills have adjusted prices by a slight increase this week, mainly for rolled steel, with an increase of 150-200 VND/kg. This small increase has not had a significant impact. Traders have also increased prices by around 100 VND/kg for rolled steel due to weak purchasing power.

Pipe and box steel market:

This week, Hoa Phat, Hoa Sen, and some other mills have adjusted prices for pipe and box steel with an increase of 200 VND/kg, while traders have mostly applied flexible price increases, resulting in a price increase of about 0.8%. Many traders have even maintained their prices.

Corrugated iron market:

Mills such as Hoa Sen, Hoa Phat, and Viet Phap have continued to issue announcements regarding conrugated iron prices this week. The level of increase by mills has shifted from 200-300 VND/kg to 400-500 VND/kg this week. However, weak purchasing power has made it difficult for traders to increase prices as significantly as the factories. Traders have only increased prices by approximately 0.3%, and there are signs of inventory buildup in the market.