The Brazilian producers are now negotiating slab exports at $535/mt, unchanged from one week ago, FOB conditions for the basic commercial grades.
Such price remains in a range of $530/mt to $540/mt since August 5, 2024.
In January, Brazil exported 586,900 mt and imported 25,700 mt of slabs against respectively 454,000 mt and no imports in December 2024.
Preliminary numbers point to Brazilian slab exports in February in line with the volume of January, although the recently increase of import tariffs for steel products by the US could affect the result for the rest of the month.
The Brazilian arm of ArcelorMittal, which exports slabs from its Tubarão and Pecem plants, said in a statement that it is too soon to evaluate the impact of the higher import tariff, as the measure applies to all countries, adding that in 2018 a similar procedure was adopted by the US, being lately adjusted with a “hard quota” measure, resulting from negotiations between the Brazilian and the US governments, meeting the interests of the steel producers in both countries.
According to the company, the challenge now is to demonstrate that the Brazilian steel has a complementary role in the steel industry of the US.