Brazilian slab producers are negotiating slab exports (US excluded) and domestic sales in average at $710/mt, FOB conditions for the basic commercial grades, against a range of $730/mt to $740/mt over the last weeks.
Sources mentioned that the decline is in line with prices of the product in other world regions, reflecting lower production costs, chiefly those linked to iron ore prices. Slab buyers have claimed that producers could reduce prices and still achieve healthy margins, in a discussion that has postponed the closure of fresh deals recently.
Similarly, slab sales from Brazil to the US are now negotiated in average at $750/mt, against a range of $770/mt to $780/mt over the last few weeks, also FOB conditions.
Slab producers in Brazil maintain expectations for higher prices, due to the stoppage for repairs of blast furnaces at Pecem and at the Ipatinga plant of Usiminas.
Preliminary numbers are pointing to a decline in October from the 596,100 mt of slab exported from Brazil in September.