The attempts of Asian slab exporters to increase prices seen in the middle of August have failed and prices have now settled at stable levels compared to late July or even slightly lower. Weak demand for slabs has been the main reason for this and also some regular customers have preferred other origins, Russian in particular, amid better prices or lead times.
Most recent offers for ex-Asia slabs have been at $445-460/mt FOB, slightly down from $450-460/mt FOB a month ago. There were attempts by major producers to push offers up to $455/mt FOB from Indonesia and $465-470/mt FOB from Vietnam and Malaysia in the middle of August but offers have quickly rolled back. The current lower end of the range - $445/mt FOB - reflects offers for ex-Indonesia slabs for November shipment, which are stable week on week, but down by $5/mt from the level in late July. “All I see from Indonesia lately is HRC sales,” an international trader said, proving that there have been no deals for slabs from this country for at least two weeks. A major Vietnamese mill has allocation for end-of-October shipment and is offering at $460-465/mt FOB.
In Turkey, the interest in import steel slab is rather sporadic and buyers are mainly only willing to deal for slab at a discount, even though local HRC prices have been relatively stable for a few weeks now. Asian prices are quite high in Turkey with Indonesian slabs priced at around $487-490/mt CFR and Malaysian slabs, according to the market evaluations, available at not less than $495-500/mt CFR. Turkey’s own steel slab production cost from scrap is estimated at $500-505/mt and so ex-Asia slab offers, which also imply deliveries in November at the earliest, are not considered workable in Turkey.
Instead, according to sources, a cargo of ex-Russia slab has been booked at $455/mt CFR Turkey, which is most probably a cargo from the sanctioned supplier, since the price is quite low. Since last week, the sanctioned suppliers from Russia and Donbass have offered at around $430/mt FOB and slightly above for September-October shipments. Russia’s non-sanctioned slab supplier, according to Turkish market sources, was targeting to sell at $445-450/mt FOB or around $465-470/mt CFR and slightly above.
The European slab market has been inactive due to the holiday season, with offers for Chinese plate grade slabs still remaining at $510/mt CFR and above, while some ex-Brazil offers were voiced at $500/mt CFR.
In Southeast Asia’s import slab market, purchases of limited volumes of Chinese material continued in August. This week, 10,000 mt of SP235 slabs were sold to Thailand at $460/mt CFR for October shipment. This price is just slightly changed from a sale of a similar grade of slab from China done at just $3/mt higher a month ago to the same trade destination. In addition, a leading Chinese producer sold a mixed cargo of SP235JR, SP275 and SP325 grade slabs at an average price of $480/mt CFR Thailand for September-early October shipment.
