Shipbuilding grade steel plate in Brazil is currently fetching the equivalent to $700/mt to $800/mt for the 22 mm to 34 mm thickness range, CFR conditions in the shipyard located in the country’s southeast.
According to sources, the country’s sole producer of plates, Usiminas Cosipa, is maintaining prices in the same range over the last few months, since a similar deal was closed at $750/mt last July.
Shipbuilders are also importing plates, chiefly from China and South Korea, with the last deals closed in the $600/mt to $700/mt range, also under CFR conditions.
According to the country’s ministry of industry, development and foreign trade, in September Brazil imported 1,700 mt of plates at an average FOB price of $1,027/mt, a figure boosted by imports of special grades from the EU at $1,300/mt, while imports from South Korea were closed at $727/mt and from China at $871/mt.