The weakness of market demand currentlyremains a challenging issue for the steel industry in Vietnam and puts pressure on prices. However, the global market is showing an upward trend, and in addition, Vietnamese mills are still increasing the prices of finished steel, so prices overall have not decreased significantly. Some products such as sheets and hollow steel pipes are experiencing a slight price increase. Moving into early March, the market is expected to improve in a more positive direction. In fact, some items like billets have shown signs of price increase this weekend, so traders are hopeful that prices may rise in the coming week.

Import scrap market:

The US scrap prices have risen to the range of 470-475 USD/ton CFR Vietnam. This price level is equivalent to the offer price from Japan, but the number of Japanese offers is lower as they tend to wait for the results of the Kanto auction on March 9. Accordingly, the Vietnamese market has seen less trading activity, but buyers seem to be more interested in the offers.

Domestic scrap market:

This week, Quoc Bao and Tisco reduced scrap prices by 100 VND/kg, while Viet Nhat increased prices by 300 VND/kg for some types of scrap. Scrap prices at scrapyards have fluctuated within a narrow range of about 100-200 VND/kg. However, the number of mills and scrapyards making adjustments is not significant, so overall scrap prices have remained relatively stable this week.

Export billet market:

After a period of disruption, sellers have offered billets at the price of 630 USD/ton FOB, supported by the upward trend in China. However, the Southeast Asian market is still weak, and sellers are shifting from BF billets to IF billets due to their lower prices. Vietnam has recorded transactions at 595 USD/ton FOB with 20 thousand tons of IF billets.

Domestic billet market:

The billet market this week has seen little fluctuation in both prices and transactions. One notable point is that at the end of this week, there have been a few offers with a slight price increase. Traders expect prices to rise again next week.

Imported HRC market:

The futures market has seen price increases, and the offer price for HRC from China has also risen to 650-660 USD/ton CFR for SS400 and 690-700 USD/ton CFR for SAE 1006, on par with the offer price from Japan. Meanwhile, Indian sellers have not provided new offer prices. However, weak purchasing power in Vietnam has kept the import market relatively subdued.

Domestic HRC market:

This week, Hoa Phat announced an additional price increase of 950-1,030 VND/kg for HRC, but this price increase has not had much impact on the market due to weak demand. The prices offered by traders have remained almost unchanged.

Export construction steel market:

The Southeast Asian market this week continues to show weakness even as China increases prices. The offer prices for construction steel from various markets have seen little fluctuation in the past two weeks. Therefore, Vietnamese sellers have not announced new offer prices for construction steel this week.

Domestic construction steel market:

Mid-week, Hoa Phat announced a price increase of 200 VND/kg for construction steel in the southern market starting from March 6, and Tungho also increased prices by 200 VND/kg for construction steel on March 1. Additionally, at the end of the week, there is news that Mien Nam Steel will raise the price of construction steel by an additional 150 VND/kg starting from March 8. However, other mills and traders are cautious and have not made any new price adjustments.

Pipe and box steel market:

This week, some large mills have increased prices for pipe and box steel by 200-300 VND/kg, but traders' demand continues to weaken. The prices offered by traders have only increased slightly by 0.2% compared to the previous week, and many traders have not made any additional adjustments.

Corrugated iron market:

Similar to the previous week, the corrugated iron market this week has witnessed widespread price increases of 200-300 VND/kg by various mills. However, the prices offered by traders have only increased slightly by 0.2%, indicating a weaker increase compared to the previous week.