Turkish mills have remained active in terms of slab imports and have actually managed to push for some sizeable discounts. According to sources, Russia’s NLMK and Ukraine’s Metinvest have recently traded around 30,000-40,000 mt of slabs each at $447-448/mt CFR for December shipments. Some sources report transactions done at levels a couple of dollars lower. The previous agreements were closed a couple of weeks earlier at $455-460/mt CFR, SteelOrbis understands.
As a result, ex-CIS steel slab prices have lost around $15-20/mt since early this month to $430-435/mt FOB. CIS-based mills report that demand is sufficient and the producers are not under pressure to sell immediately, SteelOrbis understands. Some of them aim to sell to Asia, but their offers at $485/mt CFR are not considered workable there.
UK-based British Steel is expected to announce $455-460/mt CFR for Euro1 slabs to Turkey, but, according to sources, Turkey would be targeting purchases of this material at below $450/mt CFR, while the bids for ex-CIS slabs are foreseen at around $440/mt CFR.
Local Turkish prices have decreased in deals, as had been expected. According to sources, big buyers have started to book at $500-510/mt ex-works depending on the tonnage. The official offers are still close to $520-525/mt ex-works, down from $520-525/mt ex-works seen last week.