More deals for imported slabs to China have been disclosed recently, indicating a further price increase. Suppliers from Latin America have recently been active, with up to 150,000 mt sold to China lately.
A leading Brazilian producer has managed to sell a few lots of slabs at $370-372/mt CFR China. Moreover, 40,000 mt of ex-Mexico slabs have been traded at $367-368/mt CFR China. Reduced demand from the US due to the spread of Covid-19 has been pushing South American suppliers to increase their sales to Asia.
Ex-CIS slabs have been offered at $375-380/mt CFR to China, while a deal from Black Sea region has been done at close to $370/mt CFR, sources have said.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, the previous transaction for ex-CIS slabs to China was at $360-365/mt CFR, which means prices have added another $5-7/mt in the new round of sales. China will remain the major importing market in Asia in the near future, according to market participants
