Prices for imported slabs in Asia have increased over the past week, being reflected in a number of deals to Southeast Asia and China. The main driver of slab prices has been the low availability in the market. Prices for slabs have gained even despite the weakness in the flats steel segment in Asia.
A contract for 40,000 mt of slabs from Vietnam was signed at around $460/mt FOB to China before the holidays, which translates to $470/mt on the CFR basis or slightly above, SteelOrbis has learned. China has not been active in slab purchases for a couple of weeks, taking into account the weaker flat steel market. But no prices for slabs below $470/mt CFR have been available in the market and even this price level has been hard to find, sources have said.
Also, two lots of slabs totaling 65,000 mt have been traded to Indonesia at $479/mt CFR and $481/mt CFR due to “very limited allocation in the market,” one trader said. One of them was from S. Korea.
The major Russian supplier is not offering slabs to Asia at the moment, being sold out for November. Offers from Brazil have been at a very high level, above $500/mt CFR, and not competitive in the Asian market. There has been information about one Indian mill opening a tender for export of 30,000 mt of slabs last week with no results yet.
The SteelOrbis' reference price for imported slabs in Asia has increased by $5-10/mt over the past week to $470-480/mt CFR.