The situation in the Asian slab market has not improved much over the past week with buyers bidding at closer to $650/mt CFR. Even though last week Chinese HRC prices posted some rebound, this has failed to support slab prices.
The latest deals for ex-CIS slabs in Asia have been done at $670-685/mt CFR for February shipment, while last week the tradable level in Southeast Asia was at $680/mt CFR. “The market is still very weak, HRC prices are not going up,” a source from Indonesia said.
Moreover, an even lower price level has been reported in a contract for ex-Indonesia slabs - $650/mt CFR, though details could not be confirmed by the time of publication. The same price level has been seen in negotiations for ex-Iran slabs.
Most Asian buyers have lowered their bids to $660-670/mt CFR for non-Iran slabs, as weak demand conditions in the HRC segment have kept exerting pressure.
HRC prices in the Vietnamese market have posted some increase, to $815-835/mt CFR, according to SteelOrbis’ information, but, since prices were already at a relatively low level and overall demand is very poor, this could not be assessed as a visible improvement in the market.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Southeast Asia (excluding ex-Iran material) has been settled at $665-685/mt CFR, slightly down by $5/mt on average from last week.