The situation in the slab market in Asia has not improved much over the past week with most buyers refraining from purchases. The deal price level for slabs is expected to be higher when importers return to build up stocks, as an upward trend is prevailing in the HRC segment in the Asian market, sources have told SteelOrbis.
In the current market conditions, the tradable price level has been estimated by market sources at $720/mt CFR, versus $700-705/mt CFR last week. But no firm bids have been reported over the past week. “We are going to resume slab buying in April,” one Asian importer said.
The higher tradable level even despite weak trading has been attributed to the rapid increases in the flat steel market. Over the past week, the import price level for HRC in Vietnam went up by $20-25/mt on average to $780-800/mt CFR on March 26. A new deal at $805/mt CFR Vietnam for Indian coils has already been discussed in the market on March 29. Taiwanese HRC producers are targeting not below the $790/mt ex-works level in the local market and above $800/mt on FOB basis, with some small volumes being traded at even above $850/mt FOB from Taiwan over the past week.
As a result, most market sources believe that the next deals for import slabs in Asia will be signed at higher levels. For now, the SteelOrbis reference price for import slabs in the Asian market is at $720/mt CFR, up by $15-20/mt over the past week.