Rebound in the import slab prices in Southeast Asia seen last week has been short-lived and this week prices have rolled back, following weakening of the HRC segment, SteelOrbis has learned from the market on August 25.
The latest offer for ex-Russia slabs to East Asia has been reported at $500/mt CFR, while last week mills’ offers to China were at $510/mt CFR and up to $540/mt CFR to East Asia. Suppliers have faced worsening sentiment in China, which is among the major buyers for ex-Russia slabs lately. The previous ex-Russia sale to China was around 10 days ago at $500/mt CFR (up from $480-490/mt CFR before), but since the local HRC prices in China have corrected down since last week, new bids for slabs from China are coming not above $490/mt CFR, according to sources.
Ex-Iran slab offers from traders have remained almost unchanged over the week at $515/mt CFR Indonesia and Taiwan with no traders heard so far.
Ex-ASEAN slab offers have remained the highest in the region – at $550/mt CFR and above, though last week most suppliers have been targeting above $560/mt CFR.
Weakening of slab prices in Asia has followed the trend in the HRC market, where deals for ex-Taiwan SAE1006 HRC were done at as low as $595/mt CFR Vietnam last week. In general, HRC lost $10-25/mt last week, coming to $590-605/mt CFR Vietnam.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Southeast Asia has declined by $10-20/mt over the week to $500-550/mt CFR. The lower end of the range has been rolled back by $20/mt and this level has been assessed as tradable in Taiwan.
