Major ASEAN producers have been active in offering slabs and HRC abroad as fundamentally the Asian market is too weak and oversupply is likely to persist.
For instance, two contracts for unknown tonnages of Indonesian slabs are rumored to have been done to India at around $470/mt FOB, translating to around $505-510/mt CFR. However, the producer is still offering for August shipment, at $475/mt FOB on July 20. In terms of HRC, there are active offers from at least two major Indonesian producers, but mainly for the regional market. For instance, a contract for 30,000 mt of base 3 mm HRC has been done at $517/mt CFR Vietnam last week. Another mill has been targeting $495-500/mt FOB for HRC exports, mainly for September shipment.
An offer for ex-Vietnam HRC grade slabs has been on offer at $480-485/mt FOB, down by $5-10/mt from the level seen ten days ago. Though no new deals have been reported so far, in some markets this level has been assessed as rather competitive. In Turkey, ex-Vietnam and ex-Indonesia slabs have been available at $510-515/mt CFR or around that level, which is down from the previous sale of Russian slabs heard at $521/mt CFR and recent offers at $525-530/mt CFR.
Moreover, according to market sources,100,000 mt of Vietnamese HRC have been traded to Turkey at around $525-530/mt CFR and buyers have been interested since the other major Asian supplier, China, has been less flexible, with most offers still at around $535/mt CFR.
The Malaysian producer is also interested in export sales, but the targeted price level for slabs at $520/mt FOB has failed to work out for now, according to market sources. However, there has been information about Malaysian HRC offered to Turkey at $595/mt CFR, while the tradable level is around $10/mt lower.
