The booming flats market in Turkey, the positive situation in China and limited supply have triggered bullish moods among the CIS-based steel slab suppliers. As allocation has been scarce, in the Mediterranean region specifically, producers have been watching the market to evaluate the possible workable levels. In the meantime, the indicative offer levels have increased significantly as compared to the levels seen one or two weeks ago, sources say.
Although most Turkish buyers report there are no firm offers from the CIS for slabs at the moment, they expect the sellers to try levels close to $520-530/mt CFR, but the situation will largely depend on developments in the hot rolled coil (HRC) and import scrap markets in Turkey. Some sources expect Turkey to be ready to pay around $510-515/mt CFR at the moment. Currently, local HRC offers have been reported at $600-620/mt ex-works and these levels provide good room for higher import slab prices.
As a result, for now, ex-CIS slab prices from the Black Sea region are estimated at $500-510/mt FOB, versus around $470/mt FOB fixed in the latest deal to Turkey around a week ago. It is worth mentioning that the slab allocation from the CIS is seriously limited. NLMK, according to sources, has no volume to offer for now, while Severstal is expected to have no free allocation until January, so basically Metinvest is the only CIS-based supplier who has slabs to offer at the moment.
