A recent absence of Iranian companies due to
a week-long holiday last week to mark the Persian New Year, Nowruz, has contributed to the lack of activity.
Metal Bulletin’s assessment of slab import prices in Southeast Asia and East Asia was $430-440 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday March 27, unchanged for a third week.
This is still higher than prices over most of February,
which fell to a two-month low of $420-435 per tonne cfr.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, state-owned steelmaker Krakatau Steel was heard to have skipped its monthly slab procurement tender in March – for May-shipment cargoes – because of
scheduled maintenance at its hot strip mill in May and June.
The company ended up buying at least 80,000 tonnes of hot rolled coil from a South Korean supplier at around $550-560...
