Ex-CIS steel slab prices have surged by $30-35/mt over the past two weeks, still strongly supported by the uptrend in the flats segments and by soaring scrap prices. Still, the CIS-based producers have found more support from customers in Latin America, while the Turkish market has remained limited despited increasing scrap prices.
According to sources, the latest deal from Ukraine to Mexico has been closed at $965/mt CFR for 20,000 mt, which is around $915-920/mt FOB, SteelOrbis estimates. Prior to this deal, there was a sale from Russia for around 40,000-50,000 mt at $940/mt CFR with the freight estimated at around $30/mt. It is worth mentioning that around two weeks back there was a sale at $900/mt CFR with the same freight rate.
Offers to Turkey have increased by around $20-25/mt since late last week, with both Russia and Ukraine offering at $945-950/mt CFR for July shipments with freight estimated at $17-20/mt. No deals have been reported even though import scrap levels to Turkey are now heading towards $500/mt CFR for HMS I/II 80:20 grade and local hot rolled coil offers have hit $1,070-1,110/mt ex-works and are foreseen to rise further.