After long period of consistent increase, the reference price for the Brazilian slabs exports is now $605/mt, stable from last week.
Despite being unchanged, the price is considered as remaining in uptrend, analysts told SteelOrbis, with expectations for small increases expected over the next weeks, reflecting a combination of factors including the devaluation of the USD against the Brazilian Real (BRL), the high domestic demand for slabs due to local blast furnaces idle for revamping and the resilience of the routes from Brazil to the US, Europe and Asia, unaffected by the disruptions in the Middle East.
With such domestic demand, the volume of slabs exports in March, 296,600 mt, was the lowest in 16 months, but expectations now are for a huge increase in April, possibly exceeding 500,000 mt.
CSN’s recent announcement that it is close to selling its cement division has fueled expectations of further investment at its Volta Redonda plant, including the restart of a blast furnace that has been offline for extended maintenance. If restarted, CSN could raise slab output, cut purchases of outsourced slabs, and increase volumes available for export.
