The trend in the Asina slab market has been uneven since the major suppliers came back from the holiday. After some discounts announced earlier, some mills have been targeting small rises, which have resulted in generally tradable prices compared to January.
The leading Indonesian mill has been offering for March shipment at $435/mt FOB, stable over the month, but up by $5/mt from the past week. Some sources believe that some tonnage, not so large, has been traded at the previous level of $430/mt FOB, but this has failed to be confirmed by the time of publication.
One of the Vietnamese producers, which usually focuses on the European market, has been targeting $450-455/mt FOB, which is unworkable, as rare bids from Europe and Latin America have been heard at $425-430/mt FOB. “Their main target is pushing more HRC sales into the local Vietnam market,” a trader said. Another Vietnamese mill sold a small volume of 5,000 mt of slab at $448/mt CFR to Indonesia for March shipment around two weeks ago. This price translates to $428/mt FOB or so. This mill has been also targeting local HRC sales at the moment.
No firm offers have been heard from the Malaysian mill and market sources believe that the target level will be close to the billet export price - $450/mt FOB.
In the main slab export market for Asian suppliers - Europe - market sources have confirmed prices at stable levels compared to three weeks ago. Chinese suppliers have been voicing different numbers for plate-grade slabs depending on the buyer - from $500/mt CFR to $520/mt CFR. Though there have been plenty of offers from China, previously active Indian sellers have returned their focus to the HRC market. There is a rumor that 50,000 mt of slabs from the Middle East have been traded at $435/mt FOB with the destination being Europe, but a number of market sources polled by SteelOrbis have strongly denied this, saying the price is too high for such origin and quality.
In Turkey, there has been talk about a non-sanctioned mill from Russia selling at $460/mt CFR or slightly above, which is up from $450-455/mt CFR assessed as tradable from the seller in late January. But the higher level can be explained by the short lead time. Ex-Indonesia slab offers to Turkey are at $465-470/mt CFR, in line with what was reported in late January.