According to the Brazilian foreign trade agency COMEX, in June the sea freight rates for imports of slabs from Russia were $56/mt for shipment to Rio de Janeiro and $72/mt for shipment to São Paulo.
For HRC, sea freight from China to the northeast was $33/mt, $36/mt to the south, $145/mt to the north, and $47/mt to the southeast.
For CRC, sea freight from China to the south was $37/mt from South Korea to the southeast was $72/mt and from Sweden to the south it was $45/mt.
For rebars, from Turkey to the south, the freight rate was surprisingly low at $11/mt.
As expected, the higher the volume, the lower the freight rate for the benefit of the Chinese exporters which in June have shipped the vast majority of the finished steel products imported by Brazil.
Such rates were probably negotiated two months ago.
In June, the average freight rate for steel imports by Brazil increased by 5.9 percent from May.