Posted on 27 Dec 2024
The slab export market remained largely stagnant, with a glut of Asian slab struggling to find buyers. Italian and Turkish buyers were showing little interest in imports, with no notable transactions being made, only price discussions, market participants inform Kallanish.
A market participant notes: "No one in Italy or Turkey is interested in imported slab purchases right now. Lots of Asian slab is trying to find a home: China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam – all looking for sales. Russia too, of course. But there are no deals, just prices in the market. No one wants to buy." The only activity appears to be in the Brazil/US market, the same source adds.
In Turkey, slab from Malaysia was heard at $490/t cfr, from Indonesia at $480-485/t cfr, and from Vietnam at $485/t cfr. China/Asia-origin slab was heard at $490-500/t cfr Turkey. Non-sanctioned Russian mills were offering slab at $470-480/t cfr, according to various sources on the Turkish buy side.
“Asian slab suppliers may sell [to Turkey], but a limited amount as there is a 22.5% import duty for semis in Turkey. Slab can be bought for [HRC] export purposes, but HRC demand on the export side is limited. If there would be enough HRC demand in export markets, the Asian guys could sell their HRC [instead],” a Turkish source notes.
“No one is interested now [in slab purchases in Turkey] because of limited demand for flats in export markets. The market is so slow and depressive now," notes another Turkish buy-side source.
Notably, atypically large arrivals of pig iron into Turkey could substantially slash imported slab demand in Turkey. “MV Bonita is delivering 5,000 tonnes of pig iron to Aliaga, while two vessels, Equinox and Sanita S, were unloading in Iskenderun consecutively, totalling 90,000 tonnes pf pig iron at once,” a trading source notes. The tonnage is unusually large for Turkey to absorb, he adds.
In Italy, mills were observed watching the market closely, with at least one considering Indonesian-origin slab, bidding at $500-510/t cfr. Russia’s NLMK was quoting at $500/t cfr, while Evraz offered at $490/t cfr, the latter reportedly being the most aggressive. "According to rumours, Evraz may have secured a deal with Italy at around $480-485/t cfr,” a trader says.
For Turkey and the Middle East and North Africa, Russian slab offers were heard at $425-435/t fob from Evraz. Slab from the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine was offered at $410-415/t fob for January shipment.
Other origins, including Vietnam’s Formosa Ha Tinh Steel and Indonesia’s Dexin Steel, were quoting slab at $460-470/t fob and $445-455/t fob, respectively. Both mills were believed to have product available at similar levels of $445-450/t fob to Brazil. Meanwhile, Chinese slab was priced at $470-480/t fob and Indian slab at $450-470/t fob, according to various trading sources.
One trading source says Tata Steel was pushing for slab exports instead of HRC, targeting $460-470/t fob from its new blast furnace in Kalinganagar, with some of the volumes aimed at the UK market.
Source:Kallanish
