Asian steel prices were down on 7 November despite top Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat likely deciding to cut production.
The mill will stop production at four blast furnaces in November, with another blast furnace likely to be halted in early December because of weak steel demand and prices, sources told Argus.
The mill will stop two blast furnaces at Hoa Phat Dung Quat and two at Hoa Phat Hai Duong this month. The Dung Quat operations include four blast furnaces with a capacity of around 5.6mn t/yr, while capacity at Hai Duong is 2.5mn t/yr. Hoa Phat is predominantly a blast furnace-based steel producer with a capacity of 8.5mn t/yr.
The Argus cfr Asean HRC index was at $536/t on 4 November, the lowest since November 2020 because of tepid regional and Chinese demand.
Asian steel prices had seen gains last week as expectations grew that China could relax Covid-19 curbs following a government meeting over the weekend. No such measures were rolled out and the country reiterated its zero-Covid policy instead.
Hoa Phat produced 567,000t of crude steel in October, down 19pc on the year, it said on 7 November. Sales of construction steel, billet and hot rolled coil (HRC) were at 492,000t in October, down by 42pc compared with October 2021. Sales volumes of construction steel dropped sharply last month, with exports down by more than 73pc, the company said. The steelmaker's share of HRC exports rose because of sales to Indonesia and Malaysia.
Hoa Phat sold 6.2mn t of steel products in January-October, down by 3pc on the year.
