Sales volume of finished steel in March was lower than in February, indicating difficulties faced by both individual steel mills and the overall market. Both finished steel and raw materials are experiencing greater downward price pressure. The prices of billets and scrap continue to decline this week, even though the demand for billets has slightly improved. Despite flexible pricing adjustments and subsidies from steel mills, maintaining the price of finished steel remains challenging. Expectations are being raised for changes in purchasing power in April.

Import Scrap Market:

The offer prices for imported scrap to Vietnam continue to decrease. The scrap price from the US is around 405-410 USD/ton CFR, while the price from Japan is at 438 USD/ton CFR. Trading has resumed this week, but the volume is not significant.

Domestic Scrap Market:

This week, the price of scrap has decreased by more in southern factories, but the reduction is less compared to the previous week, ranging from 100-300 VND/kg. Traders have also reduced prices by approximately 1.5%.

Import Billet Market:

Thanks to China's upward trend, Vietnam's export billet prices have slightly increased to 610 USD/ton FOB for 3SP billets (BF). Meanwhile, Vietnamese buyers have started receiving import billet offers at 610 USD/ton CFR Hai Phong. However, due to weak Southeast Asian and domestic markets, it is difficult for the import-export billet market to improve.

Domestic Billet Market:

Billet demand unexpectedly improved this week due to low billet inventory at some factories. Consequently, trading volume has also increased. However, the domestic billet market still faces several negative factors, resulting in a slight decrease of 50-100 VND/kg in billet prices.

Import HRC Market:

The HRC market mostly receives offers from China, with prices gradually increasing towards the end of the week following the futures market trend. Specifically, the SS400 offer is at 635-650 USD/ton CFR, and the SAE offer is at 675-695 USD/ton CFR. Trading in the market is also limited, ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 tons.

Domestic HRC Market:

With domestic HRC prices, most major traders maintain stable prices due to weak purchasing power and lower retail prices compared to import prices at different times. Nevertheless, traders still apply flexible pricing measures.

Export Construction Steel Market:

Since the offer at the end of February, there have been no new offers in March. The main reason remains the weakening global market, including the Southeast Asian market.

Domestic Construction Steel Market:

This week, mills have started providing subsidies of 50-100 VND/kg as previous price hikes were not effective enough. Traders also choose flexible adjustments depending on orders. However, decreasing purchasing power makes it increasingly challenging to maintain prices.

Tube and Box Steel Market:

There were few price adjustments from mills this week, so traders have mostly kept prices stable and implemented flexible policies based on orders.

Corrugated iron Market:

Similar to other finished steel products, there have been no adjustments from both mills and traders in the corrugated market this week.

Source: Giathepton.com