Asia’s import slab market has been at a standstill over the past week since Chinese customers are absent due to their holidays. A few sellers are targeting slab sales in the near future and they expect prices will not go down further.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Asia has remained stable at last week’s level of $725-730/mt CFR so far, as no new deals have been reported. Two sizable sales of ex-Russia slabs were done at $730/mt CFR, as was reported last week.
China has been the major buyer of import slabs in Asia lately and the trend in the segment will depend on the situation in the HRC and plate markets in China after the holiday, sources believe. And though the overall outlook is positive, some doubts about an uptrend exist, while restrictions for re-rolling capacities will be closely watched by market sources.
Buyers in Southeast Asia are so far not ready to accept higher slab prices as they have not seen rises in HRC prices yet. “We don’t see a price increase [for import slabs] now, more clarity should be seen next week,” a source from Indonesia said. “The market is still very bad,” a slab buyer from Taiwan said.
The Indian state-run mill SAIL has opened a tender for 20,000 mt of slabs this week. In addition, Iranian exporter Khouzestan Steel Company is also floating an auction, for 40,000-50,000 mt of slabs.