CIS-based steel slab exporters have been seeing weaker business conditions in most destinations over the past couple of weeks, given the generally pessimistic mood in the hot-rolled coil (HRC) markets and the overall bearish sentiment.
Turkish flat steel producers have been rather active in slab purchases in the past week, having refused to place orders for a while. According to sources, a Russian mill has sold a regular lot at $625-630/mt CFR, while another CIS-based mill has been offering $640/mt CFR and this naturally did not get a positive response from buyers. In addition, Turkey booked two slab lots from Brazil at rather attractive levels. According to sources, one was booked at $620/mt CFR, while the other one was sold at $625-630/mt CFR, in line with the deal from Russia. The current FOB price level from the Black Sea region in the CIS is estimated at $595-610/mt FOB depending on the supplier.
In the Baltic region, Russia has traded around 30,000 mt of steel slab for January production at $600/mt FOB, which is in line with the level initially targeted by the seller. Ukraine’s slab supplier is currently out of the market, saying there is no volume left for February shipments. Some sources say that the company has once again been experiencing troubles with raw materials, and so is evaluating the available allocation. The latest deals by the supplier were closed earlier in December at $650-660/mt DAP Europe, SteelOrbis has learned.
In the Far Eastern market, the latest deal from Russia was closed a while ago at $650/mt CFR Southeast Asia. Currently, the market level is estimated at hardly higher than $640-650/mt CFR and the mood is generally bearish, taking into account constantly weakening HRC prices. The current FOB level from Russia at this destination is estimated at around $610-615/mt FOB.