Brazilian slab export prices increased by $10 per tonne in the week ended Friday July 31, with offers up amid a revival in demand in most buying markets.
Sellers were making offers and hoping to achieve deals at $400 per tonne fob, because many had comfortable lead times and were in no rush to book orders.
***steel slab
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil, reached $390-400 per tonne on July 31, up by $10 from $380-390 per tonne a week before.
Offers of slab material to China were believed to be viable at $390 per tonne fob, but few deals to the East Asian country have been heard so far.
Sellers were prioritizing other regions than China, where demand for slab has diminished and freight rates are high, sometimes more than $40 per tonne, sources said.
Clients in Mexico, Canada, Europe and Turkey have been receiving offers of Brazilian slab, with some producers already negotiating for October shipments. Demand in such regions has recovered and there is room to sell material, several sources said.
But in many of these regions, such as Turkey, current offer prices from Brazil were too high for buyers to accept.
***iron ore 62% Fe
The market has been under pressure from continuing high prices for iron ore. Fastmarkets’ daily index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao, reached $110.58 per tonne on July 30, up from $109.39 per tonne from July 24.
In the United States, demand has been muted since a quarterly quota for semi-finished steel products from Brazil reached its limit on July 1.
The Brazilian steel association, Aço Brasil, said that the US government has been threatening to cancel the remaining fourth-quarter quota, which would prevent the import of around 350,000 tonnes of slab into the northern country.
But market participants, including buyers and sellers, believed such an outcome to be unlikely.
“The US needs slabs,” a source said, “and they have no other way to fill the gap if they cancel the quota.”
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