By the end of April, the steel market in Vietnam did not meet the previous expectations. Difficulties persist due to weak demand and the global market, particularly China, experiencing a significant price decline. Steel mills have implemented various measures, such as price reductions and production cuts, but the outlook remains bleak. As the market enters a long holiday period, which is seen as a factor that could potentially create a supply-demand balance, there are expectations of a recovery after the holidays. However, if there is no improvement in demand in May, the pressure to reduce prices will continue to dominate the market, making it difficult for steel prices to avoid further declines after the holiday season.

Import Scrap Market:

The prices of imported scrap continue to decline, reaching the lowest level since December 2022. However, no transactions have been recorded yet. The downward trend in imported scrap prices may continue, putting pressure on the domestic market.

Domestic Scrap Market:

Scrap remains scarce this week, with an increasing scarcity trend, leading to a return of price increases. However, there are still many obstacles in the market, resulting in relatively stable prices throughout the week for scrap traders.

Import Billet Market:

There have been no new offers in the import market, while the export prices of billets from Vietnam continue to decline. The main reason is the sharp decline in the Chinese market and the continuous low bidding prices from traders.

Domestic Billet Market:

This week, the price of billets has only decreased once, but the decline was significant, reaching 3.19%. Subsequently, the price remained stable due to the influence of the holiday season. Although the price of billets is currently low, there is little driving force to push for price increases, making the post-holiday price trend uncertain.

Import HRC Market:

The main offers for import HRC to Vietnam this week are still coming from China. Due to a sharp decline in futures prices this week, the Chinese prices have also decreased significantly. However, Vietnamese buyers remain cautious in their transactions.

Domestic HRC Market:

Before the extended holiday period, the domestic HRC prices experienced a significant decline of 4.4% due to weak purchasing power, declining futures prices, and reduced import prices. Currently, traders are awaiting the announcement of HRC prices by Hoa Phat.

Export Construction Steel Market:

The prospects in the international market are not optimistic due to the downturn in the Chinese market. As a result, the prices of construction steel from Southeast Asia have also experienced a significant decline, affecting the pricing of Vietnamese steel.

Domestic Construction Steel Market:

The steel mills for construction steel have reduced prices for the fourth time this month. However, due to limited improvement in consumption after the previous three price reductions, the mills only slightly reduced prices for long steel products. Meanwhile, traders reduced prices uniformly for all product categories.

Pipe and Box Steel Market:

Traders have proactively made flexible adjustments to stimulate demand, resulting in a slight decrease of 0.6% in pipe and box steel prices this week. The market focus is on the developments towards the end of the week and the sales policies introduced by Hoa Sen for May, which include various adjustments.

Corrugated iron market:

Traders continued to reduce sheet steel prices this week, primarily to stimulate demand and reduce inventory before the holiday season. However, due to weak demand, the price only decreased by 0.4% compared to the previous week.