According to market sources, another deal for import slabs in China has come to light lately, in addition to three other contracts signed over the past week, as SteelOrbis reported earlier this week.
40,000-50,000 mt of ex-Russia slabs have been traded to China at $760/mt CFR, while early last week bids were mostly at $750/mt CFR. As demand in Southeast Asia and Taiwan has been very weak and as the outlook is also not very promising, most slab suppliers have again been targeting sales to China. This deal price level is in line with the three bookings heard a few days ago at $755-760/mt CFR.
The recent price decline in the local HRC market in China has negatively affected the outlook and sources have said that buyers may not easily accept further price increases in the slab segment. The average local HRC price in China has retreated by RMB 110/mt ($17/mt) since last Friday, according to SteelOrbis’ data.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Asia, based on higher quality slabs, has been settled at $760/mt CFR for now, with the average level slightly down by $5/mt compared to last week.
