Posted on 04 Dec 2020
CIS merchant slab prices continue to rise steadily, in line with rising flat products prices, despite buyers still being slow on the uptake of new offers. Yet again, participants are warning of Mediterranean buyers missing out and being forced to pay even higher prices, as alternatives few, they tell Kallanish.
Offers to Turkey are now circling $600/tonne cfr, after a sale late last week at $555/t cfr broke a lengthy pause in buying. Turkish hot rolled coil prices are now at up to $700/t ex-works for late-March rolling material, although no deals occurred at this level before press time, with pipe producers resisting. Re-rollers and processors are likely to accept these levels, as cold rolled coil and galv prices and demand continue to rise, sources note.
Turkish flats prices’ monumental rise of around $150/t in a month is enough for buyers to accept slab offers at $600/t cfr, but Italian re-rollers may struggle, especially in the plate segment. New plate offers in Italy are at an equivalent of around $620-650/t ex-works, but HRC at $680-700/t ex-works is in line with Turkish prices, making CIS slab affordable.
The issue is availability, as CIS slab suppliers' re-rolling facilities in the EU and US are requiring more material, while demand is booming everywhere but China at present, sources note.
Brazil is also not an alternative, as it is offering to the US at $640/t fob for March casting, making CIS offers in the eastern hemisphere "…seem almost cheap", a source observes. February-casting availability is also a bonus for CIS slab buyers, sources note.
The details of two sales of Russian and Ukrainian slab to Turkey at $580/t fob Black Sea were not available at press time, but were in line with market expectations.
Offers to Southeast Asia are also at $600/t cfr, but buyers are slow on the uptake. However, sales are expected to be closed for February casting in the next ten days, stoked by expectations of buoyant demand well into 2021, participants say.
Source:Kallanish
