SteelOrbis has heard from market sources that CIS billet export offers are now ranging at $500-510/mt FOB, declining by $10/mt over the past two weeks. Attractive Chinese billet export offers have caused CIS mills to reduce their prices. Meanwhile, due to the strong competition in the export markets, Russian steelmakers have been focusing their attention on their domestic market, as well as on Scandinavia and eastern Europe. Accordingly, the volumes of ex-CIS billet being supplied to Turkey and the Middle East have diminished significantly.
In the meantime, CIS billet offers to Turkey have softened by $5/mt since last week to $510-520/mt CFR, while Chinese offers for the same destination are still at $480-490/mt CFR.