Prices for Asian slabs have dropped to some markets such as Turkey this week, as sellers have been trying to accelerate sales and the flat steel market has failed to improve. At the same time, offers from Asia to Europe have remained relatively stable compared to those seen last week, and market sources are sure that in order to sign new deals suppliers will have to provide sizable discounts too.
Offers for ex-ASEAN slabs to Turkey have been reported at $540-545/mt CFR this week, translating to $505-510/mt FOB. This is down by $15-20/mt from the previous booking of 40,000 mt of ex-Malaysia slab confirmed at $560/mt CFR a week ago. “We hear such low offers to Turkey, but not to Europe yet… But I am sure prices will fall,” a market source said.
Indonesian and Vietnamese mills are still offering to Europe at $530-540/mt FOB, with freight of around $40/mt. At the same time, offers for the most popular ex-China plate grade slabs have remained at $590-610/mt CFR. “China’s demand is weak, HRC is falling, so I don’t think they will manage to maintain slab prices, even though demand is usually much higher [in this segment],” a trader said. Most market sources believe that a decline of up to $20/mt in possible in ex-Asia slab offers to Europe soon if sentiments locally in China do not improve much.