A major Brazilian steel producer told SteelOrbis that his last deal to export HRC was closed at $440/mt FOB for the basic commercial grades, comparable to $460/mt FOB one month ago.
According to the source, the demand from the domestic market remains in a downward trend, forcing producers to search for international markets.
“We face price disputes and unfair competition from other countries, chiefly from Asia,” the source said, adding that he expects the domestic demand to increase, but only during the last quarter of the year.
Meanwhile a major distributor in the south of Brazil told SteelOrbis that so far in April his sales of HRC in the domestic market went down by 20 percent from March, ascribing the downturn chiefly to the reduced demand from the auto industry; more optimistic than the steel producer, he expects increased sales already in the third quarter of the year.
He mentioned that he remains selling HRC in the domestic market at BRL2,230/mt ($738/mt), ex-works, full taxes, except IPI, stable in BRL since a 6.7 percent increase last January, although increased by 5 percent in $ terms over one month due the recovery of the value of the BRL vis-à-vis the $ during April.