Brazilian producers are negotiating slabs of the basic commercial grades for export to the US at $530/mt, FOB conditions, comparable with a reference of $540/mt last week, a local market source told SteelOrbis.
According to the source, slabs exports to Europe are now in a price range of $490/mt to $500/mt, against $500/mt to $510/mt last week, also FOB conditions.
The source added that he maintains his view that in the short term the prices could oscillate, but expectations of higher prices are maintained for the second half of October.
“Prices cannot decline further due to a pressure on costs for the slabs producers, chiefly related to coal and iron ore prices”, he said.
