Brazilian slab producers and their clients in the US remain negotiating offers for September shipment, although no new fresh deals have been effectively closed yet, sources tell SteelOrbis.
Slab producers are reportedly still aiming for a basic FOB price of $960/mt, while buyers argue that such a price level no longer reflects the reality of the market in the country, despite the fact that one deal was previously closed at that price.
Buyers claim that that slab prices are also declining internationally, including in major slab producing countries such as Russia. Brazilian producers are in a similar situation in relation to their domestic clients, with price negotiations around the equivalent to the export price, but no deals were closed so far at such level for shipments in September.
The main buyer in the domestic market is Usiminas, which usually depends on slab from Ternium and from imports to feed the rolling activities of its Cubatao plant, which had its steelmaking area idled in 2016. CSN is also a buyer in the slab domestic market, but at smaller volumes.
The Pecem slab producer, which had its domestic sales limited to 20 percent of its total production, due to its location in an export processing zone (ZPE), was recently released from the obligation, becoming more active in the competition with Ternium in the domestic market.
Preliminary figures from customs remain pointing to a volume of slab being exported in July in line with the 580,300 mt exported in June.