During the 37th week, post-summer revival continued to be observed in respect to the
CIS domestic and export markets, with this reanimation now also seen in the flat products market as well. Whereas, a gradual increase in demand from Turkish consumers for
CIS-origin A3 grade
scrap positively affected the domestic prices of
scrap in
Ukraine and reassured Russian steelmakers, the scarcity in both the export and domestic markets for long products has pushed prices up. As for the flat markets, the announcement of the export prices for October
production was the final shove which brought the
CIS markets back into action.
Scrap: export, domestic prices in correlation once again
During the second week of September, the rise in
CIS-origin
scrap prices, which had characterized the Black Sea regional
scrap market earlier in September, came to a halt and some offers of
CIS-origin A3 grade
scrap to
Turkey at lower prices were reported. Demand for Russian and Ukrainian
scrap, however, started to pick up slowly as the European and USA
scrap exporters increased their
scrap prices for the Turkish market.
In the Russian domestic market, the price decrease which occurred during the first week of September and affected only major steel producers, spread to the whole market during the 37th week, involving almost all the market players. Thus, during last week, the procurement price for A3 grade
scrap was recorded in the range of Ruble 6000-6650/mt (approx. $238), showing an average decrease of Ruble 150-250/mt (approx. $8).
The Ukrainian domestic market, on the other hand, continued to follow the upward trend in procurement prices for A3 grade
scrap which was already observed in the 36th week. As in the previous week, the Ukrainian steelmakers also increased the procurement price for A3 grade
scrap by an average of UAH 15/mt during last week. The gradual rise in
scrap demand from Turkish producers has also pushed up A3 grade
scrap prices in the Ukrainian Black Sea ports. These were recorded at levels of $5/mt higher than during the 36th week.
Long Products: scarcity pushes prices up
During the second week of September, supported by the general reanimation of the world market at the beginning of September,
CIS long product exporters found themselves in a very strong position in the export market. Although prices have stopped rising, showing only minor positive corrections in the 37th week, the demand for
CIS-origin long products, especially in the
Middle East, has increased.
Last week, the Russian domestic long product market experienced resurgence in its prices, which had been relatively stable for the previous three weeks. In the course of last week,
rebar and beam rose by 2.2 percent in the Russian local market. As far as domestic demand was concerned during the past week, regardless of the slowdown observed in early September, long product demand, especially for
rebar, was very high and was able to attract foreign producers to the Russian market. Moreover, due to reluctance on the part of domestic producers to reduce their prices, Russian consumers preferred foreign-origin long products due to their lower prices.
In the Ukrainian domestic market, a long product shortage began to be observed, mainly due to the fall in domestic supplies - since the Russian market could offer a better price than the Ukrainian producers - and also due to the rise in demand. As a result of the materials shortage observed in the market last week, Ukrainian domestic long products rose in price. The low level of offers in the market especially affected the
rebar price, which rose in average by UAH 120/mt (approx. $24) in the course of last week.
Flat rolled: export prices finally pickup
During the second week of September, the export prices of
CIS-origin flat products finally stopped falling and began to rise again. The announcement of the new export prices for October
production made by the major
CIS flat producers was the key factor in producing stabilization and then increase - to the tune of $30/mt for HR and $50/mt for CR - in the Russian and Ukrainian export prices.
During last week, demand for flat products in the Russian domestic market continued to be slack, while prices increased just slightly under the impact of the increase in export quotations. In the course of the week, HR and CR increased on average by 0.9 percent with the price of
galvanized steel increasing on average by 0.2 percent.
Although demand was very high in the Ukrainian domestic market, flat products kept the same price levels and finished the week without significant changes.