CIS-based steel slab exporters achieved another price rise in deals last week and have further increased their offers, to Turkey specifically. Low availability and strong scrap and HRC prices have remained the key drivers of the uptrend.
By the middle of the week Turkey had started to receive slab offers from Russia and Ukraine within $700-710/mt CFR for March shipments, while last week most negotiations were reported at $670/mt CFR. However, the latest bids have been heard at $690/mt CFR since offers have skyrocketed. “When you set the HRC price at $800/mt ex-works, then what else would you expect from slab offers? The rolling cost is much lower than $100/mt,” a local source told SteelOrbis.
As a result, current prices ex-CIS are estimated at $680-685/mt FOB minimum, with higher offers being also available, up by at least $30/mt over the past week. Offers from the Baltic region are at $640-650/mt FOB, SteelOrbis has learned.
In the Far East, the latest deal from Russia was closed at $630/mt CFR to the Southeast Asia last week, up by $15/mt from the level of the previous transaction. The supplier is said to be sold out for February production. In addition, according to sources, two large batches have been sold to the Americas at $670/mt CFR last week, netting back to around $650/mt FOB Black Sea.
