According to sources, the negotiations for Brazilian slab exports, for shipments in January, are now framed by a FOB range of $530/mt to $550/mt, against a range of $555/mt to $565/mt one week ago, FOB conditions.
The decline now reflects a scenario where local steel producers Usiminas and CSN have reduced the volume of slab they are buying locally, forcing the slab producers Pecem and Ternium, which don’t own rolling operations in the country, to accept lower export prices and maintain their volumes of sales, despite achieving smaller margins.
Last week, one exporter reportedly mentioned that prices could not decline further, from a range of $555/mt to $565/mt FOB, or margins would be at risk.