During the 28th week of 2007, CIS export markets entered a calm trend for the majority of product groups. Although no considerable price decrease was seen during the week in question for any CIS export products, no active purchases were seen either. The only exception was plate, the global demand for which was still high. As for the domestic markets, both the Russian and Ukrainian domestic flats and longs markets saw some negative corrections during the 28th week. Meanwhile, the CIS domestic scrap market returned to relative stability as regards prices. Yet, due to increased consumption of scrap in the domestic markets, the price rise trend is expected to start again soon.
Scrap: Markets are calm
During the 28th week, the Black Sea scrap market was governed by a still slightly decreasing trend as regards CIS-origin A3 grade scrap. Although no great price fall was seen in the week in question - mainly due to the counterweight provided by the increased scrap purchasing activity in the Russian and Ukrainian domestic scrap markets - Turkish scrap consumers were still reluctant to make large scrap purchases due to the deteriorating longs market. Consequently, only small scrap purchases were registered during the week ended July 15. On the other hand, the Southeastern scrap market retained its stability as regards A3 grade scrap.
During the week ended July 15, the Russian domestic scrap market entered a stable trend after the considerable increase in price observed during the 27th week. As for consumption, the domestic scrap demand is still very high as the steelmakers have upped their consumption of scrap.
The Ukrainian domestic scrap market was also stable during the 28th week.
Long products: Billet stops falling, but rise not expected
During the week ended July 15, CIS-origin billet finally stabilized in the export markets. However, the demand for billets is still very low as the major consumers have very large stocks and are not planning to return to active purchases yet. As for the price, during the last week CIS-origin billets were quoted as low as $475-480/mt FOB Black Sea.
The CIS export market saw a relative stabilization during the 28th week. However, just like billets, the demand for longs is very low, while stocks are considerably high.
The Russian domestic longs market was characterized by decreasing tendencies during the week ended July 15. Although demand is still high, the high availability of products (mainly due to large imports) made the price, especially for rebar, go down. Thus, in the course of the week, the rebar price in the Russian domestic market decreased by Ruble 150/mt ($9/mt).
The Ukrainian domestic longs market saw a negative correction as regards rebar prices during last week. On the other hand, a scarcity of structural steel lifted its prices up by on average UAH 10/mt ($2/mt).
Flat rolled: Plates on the rise once again in the export markets
The CIS flats export markets were relatively calm during the week ended July 15 in terms of active purchases. Although many Ukrainian and Russian flat producers entered the market with new decreased prices last week, no response was forthcoming from buyers. On the other hand, plate export prices showed some positive corrections during the week in question in almost all the CIS flats export markets.
The Russian domestic market, still under heavy pressure from imports, continued to show some slight negative corrections during the 28th week. In addition, unlike the previous week, during last week this negative trend also affected galvanized steel in the domestic market, causing it to decrease by Ruble 120/mt ($5/mt) in the European part of Russia.
The Ukrainian domestic flats market saw some negative corrections in the 28th week as well. Just as in the Russian domestic market, the change affected galvanized steel which fell in price by UAH 7/mt ($1.5/mt). Meanwhile, the negative corrections for HR and CR were very small, varying in different parts of the country.