Slab of the basic commercial grades remain exported from Brazil at FOB prices ranging from $320/mt to $340/mt, sources linked to local exporters told SteelOrbis.
The price range has been stable now for three weeks, reflecting a relative balance achieved between the reduced production in the country and the reduced demand from the international merchant slab market, despite the recent start up of Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem (CSP), in the northeastern state of Ceara.
In August, with price deals probably closed in June, ThyssenKrupp CSA exported slab at $368/mt, ArcelorMittal Tubarao at $430/mt, and Gerdau Acominas at $421/mt, all FOB conditions, while CSP exported at $298/mt FOB, a price more likely linked to tests of the product than to market conditions.
Usiminas remains out of the slab market for having closed the crude steel production at its Cubatao plant, while CSN maintains its long term marketing policy of not exporting slabs.