While there are plenty of slab offers in the market, re-rollers are not in a hurry to fill order books.
Current slab buying activities are not as busy as they were in the first quarter, although there are still some transactions to be seen in the market. As most of the re-rollers have already secured adequate slab tonnages for the second quarter, there is no urgent need for them to bulk up a significant slab inventory at the moment. Therefore, the international slab market is slow for the time being, and it is expected that slab buying activities will hold relatively steady next month until re-rollers begin purchasing slab for the third quarter.
Slab availability is also sufficient for the time being, with plenty of slab offers in the market. CIS suppliers are offering slab to the US at approximately $750 to $760/mt CFR, registering a decrease of about $30/mt from a month ago. However, this price level has not been accepted by the market yet, and a lower price level may be obtained through negotiation. Despite the price decrease, international slab prices are still at high levels when compared to about four months ago-before the US flat rolled prices soaring significantly.
As the finished product market is softening, some market sources expect the slab market will follow suit and anticipate a downward pricing trend on the international slab prices. Nevertheless, some industry insiders believe the market is going through a temporary price adjustment and they are positive that international slab prices will be able to hover around the current high levels.
The latest data from the US Department of Commerce's Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system show that the total amount of slab imports into the US in the month of March was 484,656 mt, reflecting an increase of 123,054 mt when compared to the figure in February. The countries that exported slab to the US in March were: Brazil, at 85,914 mt; Japan, at 84,464 mt; Russia, at 79,566 mt; Mexico, at 66,383 mt; Canada, at 62,654 mt; Ukraine, at 53,402 mt; and Germany, at 52,293 mt.