Most hot rolled coil producers (HRC) from Russia and Ukraine have announced solid export offers for July production, aiming at higher levels compared to the previous round of sales. Higher flats prices in Turkey, firm scrap prices and cautiously optimistic expectations for demand in the July-August period are the key reasons for the targeted increase. Another important issue is that all three Russian producers are expecting significant cuts in allocation for July production, partly owing to slowly reviving local demand.
Russia’s MMK has officially announced a $380/mt FOB offer level or $395/mt CFR in offers to Turkey, which indicates an increase of around $15-20/mt price compared to the previous deals. In the meantime, NLMK is still taking time to set its official price level. However, market sources expect the supplier’s offers to be at $390-395/mt FOB or even above for July, taking into account limited allocation. In the previous round, NLMK traded most of its volume to Turkey at $375-380/mt CFR and slightly above or within the range of $360-370/mt FOB, as SteelOrbis reported earlier.
Baltic region-based Severstal has set its HRC offers for western and southern Europe at $390/mt FOB, up $20-30/mt over the past two weeks. Buyers from northern Europe are receiving $410/mt FOB offers, versus $400/mt FOB in latest deals for June rolling. In this round, the producer plans to avoid sales to distant markets, SteelOrbis understands.
Ukraine’s Metinvest has increased its offers by around $5/mt over the past week, following some sizable lots for July production traded last week. As SteelOrbis reported earlier, Turkey booked 20,000 mt of small coils at $375-377/mt CFR and 15,000 mt of big coils at $385/mt CFR. Currently, the mill’s prices are standing at $380/mt CFR and $390/mt CFR, respectively. No official fresh offers have been disclosed for North Africa, while last week around 10,000 mt of small coils were sold at $385/mt CFR. As a result, today's offer level from Ukraine is estimated at around $365/mt FOB for small coils and $10/mt higher for big coils.