Prices for slabs in the global market have softened recently, following weaker sentiments in the flat steel segment. Asian slab suppliers have been among the most active, managing to sell up to 150,000 mt of slabs to Europe, even though reducing prices to attract customers.
In particular, around 130,000-150,000 mt of ex-Indonesia slabs have changed hands at $615-620/mt FOB, which translates to around $660-665/mt CFR on average to Belgium and Italy. In the second half of March, ex-Asia slab prices in Europe have been fluctuating at not below $700/mt CFR. “The mills who have allocations needed to adjust prices to sell,” a source said. There have been limited offers from other ASEAN-based sellers. Vietnam has remained inactive so far, not willing to provide such a low price.
In Turkey, where the HRC business has been under pressure from low demand and aggressive ex-China offers, the workable prices for import slab are generally not attractive for the sellers, including those from Asia. In particular, the latest offers from Indonesia have been placed at $630-635/mt CFR, down $5-10/mt over the past week, but still those were not workable. Therefore, a rumor about a $615/mt FOB sale from Indonesia to Turkey has been denied, since with the freight the price would be around $640-645/mt CFR minimum. The most recent slab offers from China have been reported at $630/mt CFR, down $10/mt over the past week.
As regards Russia, no firm offers have been reported. A sanctioned supplier is not in the Turkish market and is focusing on alternative destinations, claiming that its 250 mm is not in demand in Turkey. In fact, there has been an additional 35,000-40,000 mt slab sale to Latin America at $540/mt FOB, in line with the previous 70,000-80,000 mt sale reported by SteelOrbis earlier. Another Russian regular slab exporter is not active now, most probably waiting for supply volumes to shrink in the market, which may affect bids for slabs in a positive way. Turkey’s most recent bids for ex-Russia slabs have been reported at $600-610/mt CFR with freight estimated at around $25-30/mt from the Black Sea.
In Asia, sentiment has also been very poor. The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Southeast Asia has remained at $590-620/mt CFR, where the lower end corresponds to the ex-Russian Far East tradable level, while the higher end is the achievable price for ex-ASEAN slabs. There have been higher offers for ex-South Korea slabs, coming at around $650/mt CFR to Southeast Asia, but this level is said to be unworkable and the seller would probably offer the material to alternative destinations with the FOB level assessed at $625-630/mt FOB.
