With the recent stoppage for maintenance at CSN and Gerdau’s blast furnaces (at the Volta Redonda and Ouro Branco plants, respectively), the domestic slab market in Brazil has gained momentum serving domestic steelmakers, with monthly sales now reaching an estimated average of 100,000 mt, a local source told SteelOrbis.
The Volta Redonda and Ouro Branco, along with Usiminas’ Cubatao plant, are now being supplied locally with slab from Usiminas’ Ipatinga plant, plus Pecem and Ternium, in addition to imported slab.
This year, Usiminas has already imported 38,800 mt of slab from Russia at $471/mt, FOB conditions, while in 2018 the company imported a total of 110,300 mt mt of slab from Russia and Iran, in average at $517/mt, also FOB conditions.
The source mentioned that the domestic slab reference price today is approximately $510/mt, ex-works, full taxes except IPI, for the basic commercial grades, roughly the equivalent to FOB conditions for destinations other than the US.