Demand for slabs from CIS producers selling the material under long-term contracts has improved somewhat in the first half of May. In particular, customers from SE Asia have started buying July-September output of semis actively, so suppliers plan to fill Q3 order book at the end of May-the beginning of June. Meanwhile, demand from US buyers remains moderate. Customers there still prefer feedstock for production of plate, while their interest in coil quality slabs has dropped notably due to worsening demand for sheets and coils in the region. In this situation, market operators report the material produced in Q3 by Alchevsk SW is changing hands at $640-650/t FOB Black Sea, like two weeks ago. However, if the purchase is small, the price may be by $10/t higher. Specifically, a booking of 10,000 t of the material from this supplier to SE Asia has been reported at $660/t FOB Black Sea. Traders also report Russia’s Severstal has already sold July production at $640/t FOB St. Petersburg. Besides, NLMK is sitting out of the market now after closing deals at $640-650/t FOB Novorossiysk at the end of April. ( Source: www.metalexpert-group.com )