Slab suppliers have been holding the international slab prices steady for the last couple of weeks.
In the US, there are still slab purchasing activities to be seen in the market, but re-rollers are not buying aggressively and are only purchasing adequate quantities for their needs. They are buying conservatively and trying not to replenish to high-level inventories in order to avoid any risk from sudden market changes.
On the other hand, the domestic Chinese steel market is weakening. About a month ago, market insiders were expecting the domestic Chinese steel market would resume after the Chinese New Year holidays, however, the situation did not meet their expectations-domestic Chinese steel prices are declining, preventing international slab suppliers from raising their slab prices continually.
Current slab availability is sufficient. CIS suppliers are offering slab at approximately $780 to $790/mt CFR for the time being. Some market insiders believe international slab prices have reached their peak, but the upward momentum will soon loosen and a downward pricing trend is expected for third quarter shipments. However, the impact that the current disaster situation in Japan will have on the slab market is uncertain at the moment.
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 February was 361,602 mt, reflecting an increase of 32,138 mt when compared to the figure in January. The countries that exported slab to the US in February were: Brazil, at 196,514 mt; Ukraine, at 53,987 mt; Russia, at 44,029 mt; Mexico, at 40,592 mt; and Canada, at 26,459 mt. The United Kingdom also exported a smaller amount of slab to the US during the period.