Slab prices in the global market have remained under pressure, with no improvements seen in flat steel product prices in major outlets. Asian suppliers have returned to the market after the long holiday with almost the same or slightly lower prices. Russian suppliers are still facing a lack of sales destinations, with the majority of Turkish buyers declining to book from Russia amid increased checks for the origin of raw materials in the case of flat steel exports.
In Turkey, interest in import slabs is modest for now, mainly due to the softening of import scrap prices. In addition, interest in Russian slabs, which have had the lowest prices for many months and were in demand in Turkey previously, is now diminishing. The main reason is the fear among Turkish buyers that the production of flat steel produced from Russian slabs may cause certain difficulties for them when selling their products to the EU according to the recent regulations. “Re-rollers, pipe-makers and even end-users like sandwich panel producers have also started to ask for certificates from the mills regarding the slabs they use,” a trader told SteelOrbis. As a result, it is mainly expected that Russian slab imports to Turkey will decline, but may still be seen at least in sufficient tonnages to cover flat steel exports to non-EU destinations. “Even in that case, there is still a problem with export licenses,” a source said.
This week, there has been talk about an NLMK slab sale to Turkey at $495/mt CFR and an Evraz deal at $465/mt CFR, but both of them have been denied by either the seller or the supposed buyer. The most recent sale to Turkey has been concluded from Saudi Arabia, as SteelOrbis has reported, at below $525/mt CFR. The supplier has further increased the offer to $510/mt FOB or around $540/mt CFR, sources estimate. Malaysia is in talks at $555/mt CFR for steel slab and sources expect at least one of the cargoes to be sold shortly, maybe at a slight discount. Indonesian slab is on offer at $545/mt CFR, with no interest reported just yet.
Ex-Indonesia slab offers have been reported at $505/mt FOB, slightly below the negotiable levels of $505-510/mt FOB previously. No deals have been reported so far, as, for instance, bids from India have been coming closer to $500/mt CFR. The previous ex-Russia slab deal to India was done at $470/mt CFR, as SteelOrbis reported earlier. A number of Indian integrated mills “which sell a lot of flats to Europe, will prefer non-Russian material,” a source said.
Apart from low-priced sales to India and China from Russia, Latin America is still one of the destinations that can accept Russian slabs. There has been market chatter that one sale to this destination has been done at $470/mt CFR, though this could not be confirmed by the time of publication.