Offers from ASEAN mills for slabs have been at $440-450/mt FOB versus $445-460/mt FOB last week. The major Indonesian mill has been offering $440/mt FOB for February shipment, $5/mt less than a week ago. “Their billet offer for March is $433/mt FOB, but they didn’t cut slabs more as they think they will be able to sell the rest of February shipment [slabs] at slightly higher price,” a trader said. There has been an information that this week 20,000 mt of Indonesian slabs have been sold at $440/mt FOB to Thailand, translating to around $460/mt CFR. One of Vietnamese mill has been also offering at $440/mt FOB. Malaysian offers have declined to $450-455/mt FOB.
There have been talks about an Indian mill selling up to 100,000 mt of slabs to the UK and to Thailand some time ago. In early December, offers were at $460/mt FOB, but according to sources, deals were done at lower levels. As for the European market, where plate grade slabs are in shortage, the tradable level is $510/mt CFR and below, but as for SE Asia, buyers will hardly pay anything above $460/mt CFR. “Thailand buys usually from Japan, and if Tata wanted to sell, they had to offer competitive price,” a source commented.
“The mill is expected to remain active until the middle of next year due to the excess supply of semis amid the mismatch of steel production and HR capacities at the Kalinganagar plant,” another source said. Offers from India to Turkey have been reported at $475/mt CFR lately.
