Prices for imported slabs have increased further this week, even though overall trading activity has been limited. Bullish sentiments in the flat steel market in Asia with rising offers for Chinese HRC and good expectations for the post Lunar New Year period have pushed slab prices up.
The SteelOrbis reference price for imported slabs in Southeast Asia has increased to $565-600/mt CFR, with the lower end of the range up $15/mt over the past week, and the higher end is up by $10/mt. The lower end of the reference price range represents the tradable level of sanctioned ex-Iran and ex-Russia slabs, while the higher end of the range as usual corresponds to regional prices in Asia.
According to sources, a deal for 35,000 mt of ex-Russia slabs has been done to Southeast Asia at $565/mt CFR lately. This is the lowest price seen in the market over the past week, while almost a similar level has been offered to Taiwan for ex-Iran slabs, but no deal has been done and the allocation from Iran is still limited. Moreover, another Russian supplier has been targeting a higher level of $580/mt CFR or so without any success.
The tradable level for ex-ASEAN slabs would be not below $600/mt CFR Asia, according to sources. Some mills from the region have already voiced offers at $640-650/mt CFR, which were assessed by import market sources as “crazy high”. “Asian slab suppliers managed to sell the last time to Asia at $560/mt CFR, and now their offers are close to the HRC price, so they don’t have any sense,” an importer said.
The import HRC price in Vietnam has reached $650-660/mt CFR, up by $30-35/mt over the past two weeks. Local HRC trade prices in the local market in Taiwan have been heard at $650/mt ex-works, while in the export market Taiwanese mills have been inactive, focusing only on the European market, with the latest achieved price at $660/mt FOB.