Demand from slabs has visibly improved in Asia as China has continued to book big volumes and other customers, from Taiwan and Southeast Asia in particular, have resumed buying. Bullish sentiment in the HRC segment has supported the slab market.
Two deals for 40,000-45,000 mt each of Brazilian slabs from two different mills have been done to China at $377.5/mt CFR and $380/mt CFR over the past week ended on June 1, SteelOrbis has learned. The previous deal to China was at $390/mt CFR during the previous week. Chinese traders have said that the recent deals for slabs are in line with expectations and bids heard a week ago.
A contract for 40,000 mt of ex-Brazil slabs has been signed to Taiwan at $380/mt CFR in the past week, while another sale for slabs of another origin has been heard at $10/mt higher. Nevertheless, market sources from Taiwan have mentioned that recent deals have not been reflecting much stronger demand in the country, but have been based mostly on better expectations in the HRC market.
There has also been a rumor about a sale of a big cargo of slabs to Indonesia at close to $380/mt CFR, but it has not been confirmed by the time of publication.
Most offer prices for slabs have been at $380-390/mt CFR to China and Southeast Asia recently.
Following the sharp jump in futures prices and the rise in iron ore prices last Friday, the market in China has continued to show an improvement on Monday. Offers for HRC from India have been at $430/mt CFR and above to China, following deals at $410-420/mt CFR for a number of cargoes last week.
