Posted on 18 Jun 2019
Vietnam’s Formasa Ha Tinh has cut its finished steel sales in order to minimise losses, Kallanish understands.
The company’s sales allocations for August shipments for hot rolled coil and wire rod were set at 330,000 tonnes and 50,000t respectively. Previously, the mill produced 380,000t and 65,000t. “We have decided to reduce our sales because we are incurring losses at current prices and high production costs,” a source close to the company says. "At current prices, we are not profitable," the source adds.
Last Saturday, the steelmaker cut its monthly HRC prices by $25/t to $516/t cif for base SAE1006 for August shipments to the domestic Vietnamese market.
The mill also cut its wire rod prices by $16/t to $522-550/t cif Vietnam, depending on grades, for August shipments. The surplus steel output will be stock-piled as slab and billet, the source says. The mill has not decided on its sales output for the coming months. This would depend on prevailing market conditions for both raw materials costs and finished steel.
