Cash-strapped steel mills seek slab imports to no avail

摘要

A lack of available funds among some steel mills in Southeast Asia is hindering their ability to purchase imported slabs, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 19. “Because of how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted downstream businesses and some governmental payouts have yet to be received, steel mills are not sufficiently cash-rich to purchase semi-finished steel on a spot basis,” a trader in Southeast Asia said. Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel slab imports, cfr Southeast Asia and East Asia was $395-400 per tonne on Monday June 22, narrowing upward by $5 per tonne from $390-400 per tonne a week earlier.