According to sources, negotiations for Brazilian slab exports, for shipments in December, are now framed by a FOB range of $560/mt to $570/mt, against a range of $570/mt to $580/mt last week, for sales to non-US destinations.
The drop reflects the third consecutive weekly decline of prices, with few deals effectively closed for shipments in December. One exporter mentioned that its clients in Europe are in a strong negotiation position in relation to prices offered from Russia, but Brazilian producers are not able to match such prices, due to production cost concerns.
On the other side, domestic sales to Usiminas and to CSN are compensating for the poor export performance, as these companies remain building stocks for the stoppage of a blast furnace next year, in the case of Usiminas, while CSN remains buying slab to maintain its rolling operations at full pace.
Preliminary numbers from customs remain pointing to a higher volume of slabs exports from Brazil in October, compared to the 390,100 mt exported in September.