Brazilian slab producers are negotiating slab exports (US excluded) and domestic sales in a price range of $730/mt to $740/mt, against $780/mt to $790/mt last week, FOB conditions.
Slab sales from Brazil to the US are now negotiated in a range of $770/mt to $780/mt, against $820/mt to $830/mt last week, FOB conditions.
In both cases, the reduction reflects lower prices in the merchant slab market, in line with the general trend of prices of steel products. According to sources, such prices could increase in the short term, reflecting the reduced slab production resulting from an accident at blast furnace number 2 at Usiminas’s Ipatinga plant.
Initial estimates point to a 200,000 mt loss of slab during the period when the blast furnace will remain idled for repairs, but the impact of such shortage over the supply/demand balance could be reduced if it is confirmed that Usiminas has slab stocks equivalent to three months of its consumption.
The Ipatinga plant supplies slab for rolling activities at the company’s Cubatao plant, which had its crude steel production halted in 2015.