Asian customers have been reluctant to restart slab purchases, trying to evaluate recent developments in the HRC segment where prices have showed signs of rebounding but are still low. At the same time, there are also only a few offers in the market, as suppliers have not been ready to lower prices further.
Offers for non-Iranian slabs have been at $440-450/mt CFR in Asia, almost stable compared to last week. Ex-Iran slabs have been available at $430/mt CFR, which is slightly higher compared to $420-430/mt CFR last week. There have been no reports of deals from firm enquiries from major customers, as they purchased some volumes earlier and have focused on flat steel product sales recently.
Sources said that, since Chinese exporters have started to increase prices yesterday, demand has weakened and there is no clear market picture at the moment. Offers from China for SAE 1006 HRC have been heard at $480-490/mt CFR Vietnam, while previous deals were at $470-475/mt CFR Vietnam.
The SteelOrbis reference price for import slabs in Asia has increased by $10/mt compared to last week, reaching $440-445/mt CFR.