CIS-based hot rolled coil (HRC) producers have been aiming to increase their export offers in order to benefit more from the temporarily limited supply in the market. In addition, the prices in Turkey, one of their key sales destinations, remain high for now despite some concerns.
Ukraine’s Metinvest has started to offer HRC for March production at around $475-480/mt FOB, up by around $20/mt compared to the previous round of sales. In particular, as reported earlier, Turkey has received offers at $490-495/mt CFR. It is worth mentioning that Metivest is still offering only small coils while actively working on achieving the technical parameters required for production of big coils from its newly-renovated rolling line at Ilyich SW, SteelOrbis has learned.
Russian HRC suppliers from the Black Sea are not officially in the market yet. NLMK is expected to target $490/mt FOB for March production, while its allocation may be somewhat less than usual. In the meantime, MMK remains out of the market amid ongoing maintenance with no HRC currently offered to the export markets.
In the Baltic region, Russian producer Severstal has been selling for February production at up to $470/mt FOB, but will most probably increase the levels for the remaining tonnages by around $5-10/mt. In particular, some bids have been received at higher levels. In the meantime, the supplier may not be active in sales outside the EU as the high logistic costs result in low margins, SteelOrbis understands.