Due to the unstable flat rolled market in China and the approaching end of the year, slab buying activities worldwide remain slow.
China’s flat rolled prices climbed in November; however, it is observed that the market is losing its upward momentum and that flat rolled prices in China are now trending slightly down as of the beginning of December. In the context of this uncertain market situation, slab buyers worldwide and particularly in Asia continue to refrain from purchasing aggressively. Also, slab buyers are generally trying to keep their inventories at low levels through the end of the year and therefore they are in no hurry to buy slab at the moment.
Meanwhile, there are still plentiful slab supplies in the market, and with some blast furnaces resuming production in South America, more slab supplies are expected to enter the market in the first quarter of next year.
Currently, international slab suppliers are offering slab at $400 to $410/mt FOB to the US West Coast, and lower prices may be achieved through negotiation. Due to the January and February increases announced by US flat rolled steelmakers and flat rolled mills' growing order books, the slab pricing trend is going up.
The latest data from the US Department of Commerce’s Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system shows that the total amount of slab imports into the US in the month of November was 341,503 mt, representing an increase of 81,632 mt from October. The main countries that exported slab to the US during November include: Russia, at 81,393 mt; Mexico, at 74,538 mt; Canada, at 67,693 mt; Brazil, at 55,016 mt; Japan, at 41,316 mt; and Venezuela, who hadn’t exported slab to the US for the preceding three months, at, 20,742 mt. Germany also exported a small amount of slab to the US during the period.