The US slab market is quiet with not many transactions being concluded in the market.
As re-rollers are currently not in the hurry to buy slab, the market has remained slow in the last month. Sources tell SteelOrbis that re-rollers are only buying slab tonnage to meet their immediate needs, and are still trying to maintain a comfortable inventory level to avoid overbuying toward the end of the year. Without strong demand in the US slab market, slab tonnage is sufficient, and it is expected that slab availability will increase throughout the rest of the fourth quarter.
As such, slab offer prices to the US have stayed neutral at $660 to $670/mt in the last month. However, with the anticipation of weakening slab demand and the expectation of a slightly downward pricing trend on US flat rolled products, market sources predict slab offer prices to the US will decrease by next month.
The latest data from the US Department of Commerce's Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system show that the total amount of slab imports into the US in the month of September was 470,185 mt, reflecting a decrease of 36,500 mt when compared to the figure in August. The primary sources of imported slab to the US in September were: Brazil, leading with 215,166 mt; Russia, at 92,421 mt; Canada, at 58,717 mt; Japan, at 35,023 mt; India, at 22,343 mt; and Mexico, at 10,548 mt. Furthermore, Australia resumed slab exports to the US after a two months break, bringing in 35,562 mt in September.